The defending Italian champions Nerazzurri have stated that they have “provided the required documentation for the transfer of certain players during the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 seasons” at the request of the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has carried out searches at the club headquarters.
As part of this “preliminary investigation”, the prosecution wishes “to verify the regularity of the recognition of capital gains” generated by these sales, explains Inter, ensuring that “the club’s balance sheets are drawn up in compliance with accounting principles the most rigorous “.
In addition to the Inter offices, the financial brigade of the Italian police recovered documents from the headquarters of the Italian Football League, also located in Milan, said the Milan prosecutor’s office, which opened this preliminary investigation against X for ” fraudulent communications “.
According to the Italian agency Ansa, the total amount of capital gains investigated by the courts amount to some 100 million euros over the two seasons concerned. They would relate to the sales of ten players.
These searches come a little less than a month after those targeting Juventus, suspected of having communicated false information to investors and of having produced invoices for non-existent transactions, according to the Turin prosecutor’s office.
In the case of the bianconero club, the checks would relate to some 282 million euros in capital gains and several of its leaders, including President Andrea Agnelli, are directly targeted.
For several years, many observers have pointed to the abuse of a legal practice, aimed at carrying out “false exchanges”, ie cross-selling of players between two clubs. Little money is then actually paid by the clubs but any realized capital gains can be immediately recognized, making it possible to improve financial performance.
The Italian Federation, which recently launched its own investigation into the subject of capital gains, is itself considering measures to try to limit the abuses.
