A number of Italian newspapers have outlined how Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis told prosecutors that the deal for Victor Osimhen was the responsibility of former club director, Cristiano Giuntoli. The transfer saw the Nigerian striker make the switch from Ligue 1 side to Napoli in 2020, however, the inclusion of a number of youth players in the deal has come under scrutiny, with suggestions that Napoli inflated their values to make capital gains.
La Gazzetta dello Sport have written an article today, detailing De Laurentiis’ visits to the prosecutors office and what transpired:
“Around 1:30 p.m. yesterday, De Laurentiis confidently exited the Rome prosecutor’s office. He made no statements, having already spoken enough – as requested – to the appropriate authorities. Approximately an hour and a half earlier, he had entered the office of Deputy Prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini on the first floor of the Piazzale Clodio courthouse, ready to clarify his and Napoli’s position regarding the Osimhen case, for which he is under investigation for false accounting. The issue revolves around alleged fictitious capital gains related to the acquisition of the Nigerian forward, who arrived at Napoli from Lille in the summer of 2020 for €71 million, while three young players – Luigi Liguori, Claudio Manzi, and Ciro Palmieri – and Orestis Karnezis went to France, valued at just over €20 million. The value of the latter group was disputed first by the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office (and in April 2022, De Laurentiis was acquitted), and later, from a criminal standpoint, by the Naples Republic Prosecutor’s Office, which in June 2022, due to territorial jurisdiction, transferred the case to Rome (where the club’s budget was approved).
“But let’s return to the present. Yesterday, De Laurentiis detailed to Cascini and Deputy Prosecutors Lorenzo Del Giudice and Giorgio Orano the dynamics of that operation, starting from how the evaluations of the young players were reached. He emphasized that the negotiation was purely sporting and therefore conducted almost entirely by then-sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli, who obviously is not among the suspects since he did not have the power to sign. The president also highlighted that the club, one of the most financially stable, had no interest in creating capital gains, neither from a budgetary nor a sporting perspective, to, for example, secure a league entry that it already had in hand. De Laurentiis is calm, convinced that the prosecutors have no evidence of wrongdoing.
“For this reason, Fabio Fulgeri, the lawyer who accompanied the president to the prosecutor’s office and defends him alongside Lorenzo Contrada, expects “a dismissal.” “It went well,” he added. “From a criminal standpoint, there is no smoking gun; I trust that the prosecutors may reconsider the charges. Remember that here it is necessary to prove intent, but nothing of the sort emerged from the investigations.” A defense memorandum will also be filed in the coming days, which will include excerpts from the decision with which the Federal Court acquitted Napoli and its executives.
“In addition to De Laurentiis, all members of the then-board of directors (his children Edoardo and Valentina, wife Jacqueline, and Andrea Chiavelli) and Napoli itself are under investigation in Rome. None of them will request to be heard, as the club’s top executive did, who nevertheless had the opportunity to clarify everyone’s position. The investigations by the Naples Prosecutor’s Office began following a file opened by the Interregional Jurisdiction of France in October 2021, following a complaint against unknown persons by Lille’s new ownership for alleged financial irregularities. This led to a series of searches at the FilmAuro headquarters in Rome and Castel Volturno. By the end of the month, the prosecutors will decide whether to indict the president or close the case, putting an end to the saga.”
