FILE: Prosecutor calls for AC Milan football club executives to be tried for false accounting

A Milan prosecutor has asked a judge to order the vice president of AC Milan to stand trial for possible false accounting. An Italian prosecutor has asked for a false accounting case against the president of soccer club Inter Milan to be dropped, but wants one of the club's vice-presidents and a top executive at AC Milan to stand trial, a legal source said on Monday (September 24). Inter president Massimo Moratti and Milan's vice-president Adriano Galliani were placed under investigation in January as part of a probe into suspected false accounting in Serie A football. The legal source said on Monday the prosecutor had now called for Galliani, Inter vice-president Rinaldo Ghelfi and former Inter executive Mauro Gambaro to be tried, but said that the case against Moratti should be dropped. Milan public prosecutor Carlo Nocerino is investigating whether clubs manipulated their balance sheets by inflating the prices of players they bought and sold. Both Inter and city rivals Milan have rejected any claims of financial irregularity. The prosecutor's requests will now be examined by a judge. A request for someone to stand trial does not necessarily lead to criminal charges. Italian football was shaken last year by a match-fixing scandal involving some of its top clubs. Juventus were demoted to Serie B and four clubs, including Milan, were punished with point deductions. Last September, Rome magistrates called for the president of AS Roma, Franco Sensi, and the former president of Lazio, Sergio Cragnotti, to stand trial for false accounting. Both men denied the accusations. Other investigations into false accounting are under way in Genoa and Turin.

ITN Source | September 25, 2007

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