He bet he bet. And what’s more, on illegal platforms. But never about football. It is essentially the outcome of the more than two and a half hours spent in the prosecutor’s office in Turin by Nicolò Zanioloinvestigated in the investigation into betting on unauthorized platforms. Just as they had already done Nicolò Fagioli before and Sandro Tonali afterwards, even the former Roma footballer admits to having succumbed to the bets.
INSIGHTS
Zaniolo’s afternoon at the Prosecutor’s Office in Turin began at 2.37pm, when he went up to the seventh floor to be heard by the public prosecutor Manuela Pedrotta and the investigators of the flying squad, led by the manager Luigi Mitola. The midfielder, who the prosecutors accuse of the crime of illegally carrying out gaming and betting activities, arrived in a black van with tinted windows and left two and a half hours later, passing through a secondary exit. The footballer, former Roma, now playing for Aston Villa, was accompanied by lawyers Antonio Conte and Gianluca Tognozzi. The magistrates wanted to shed light on the transitions made by Zaniolo, who has always denied having bet on football, limiting himself to playing black jack and poker.
Unlike the Juventus midfielder, Nicolò Fagioli, and the Newcastle former AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali, the only footballers – for the moment – targeted by the Turin magistrates, who admitted to having also bet on football. Fagioli never on Juventus, Tonali also on Brescia and Milan. For this reason, to date the 24-year-old footballer is not under investigation by the FIGC federal prosecutor, unlike Fagioli, suspended for seven months and Tonali, who will remain out of action for ten months.
A defensive line, that of Zaniolo, which was confirmed by the lawyers. «He answered all the questions and did not avoid any objections formulated by the prosecutor, definitively clarifying his position» they explained, underlining that «no evidence emerged against him regarding the possibility of betting on football matches». Rather, Zaniolo, they say, “acknowledged that he had occasionally played poker and black jack on illegal platforms and clarified that he had never been subjected to threats or intimidation”. “We are confident that our client’s legal case will be closed soon,” concluded the lawyers.
His interrogation was classified and the questions, according to what we learned, focused on what was found on the tablet and smartphone seized in Coverciano, fifteen days ago, when the police knocked on the door of the Italian national team’s training camp. But there is maximum confidentiality regarding the player’s answers.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor’s investigations continue, in particular on the USB stick acquired by the flying squad in recent days: it is a will-stick of Maurizio Petra, uncle of the former footballer Antonio Esposito, on the alleged illegal bets. Petra would be the source cited by Fabrizio Corona, the king of paparazzi who had anticipated the names of the three suspects on his website.
1970-01-01 00:00:00
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