The Administrative Regional Court of Lazio has ruled in favour of Juventus regarding the inclusion of letter from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office to the Covisoc being included in their defence. The Bianconeri have submitted their appeal to CONI regarding the 15-point penalty that was handed to the club regarding alleged capital gains related to player sales.
Il Corriere della Sera report that an appeal that was filed by former Juventus Sporting Director Fabio Paratici and current executive Federico Cherubini has been upheld by TAR and has ruled that a letter sent from the Federal Prosecutors office to Covisoc (The Supervisory Commission on Professional Football Clubs) will have to be handed over to the Juventus defence team.
The letter reportedly outlines a request from Covisoc to the FIGC for clarification on the capital gains case relating to Juventus and is dated April 14, 2021. For Juventus, this document represents the real beginning of the investigation into capital gains, and would therefore be able to invalidate the investigation of the federal prosecutor’s office, which took place after the time allowed.
The proceedings were in fact opened in October, well beyond the allowed time limits, namely 30 days for the entry of the notice in the appropriate register and 60 days for the duration of the investigation.
Covisoc will now have to deliver the document to Juve’s lawyers within seven days. So far, the Bianconeri had asked to see the document, but prosecutor Giuseppe Chinè had rejected the request, explaining that “it is not part of the documentation acquired as part of the disciplinary proceedings.”
Covisoc, in the documents of the appeal to the Tar defended itself, saying: “The document to which you request access was formed by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. Your petition was promptly addressed to that body to the extent of its competence. Please refer to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which will be able to fully express itself on the formalized petition.”
The lawyers had emphasized “the interest in defensive access in the case at hand, particularly in the pendency of the appeal of the revocation ruling, issued by the Federal Court of Appeal, precisely because the act must be known before the conclusion of the sports trial.”
The appeal hearing is expected to continue until at least the end of the month before a definitive verdict is reached.
