Soccer: Juve says charges do not appear 'well-founded'

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 30 - Charges posited against Juventus board members in an accounts probe that has spurred the resignation of all the Turin giant's executives do not appear to be well-founded, the club said Wednesday.
    "The allegations of the public prosecutor's office do not appear well-founded and do not appear, moreover, either in terms of assumptions nor as to conclusions, aligned with the findings contained in the Consob (Milan bourse regulator) resolution of 19 October 2022," Juventus said in a statement.
    It said the findings were "based on a solid set of opinions by leading legal and accounting professionals".
    An indictment request is ready to be issued for former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli and almost all the others implicated in a probe into the Turin giant's accounts, judicial source said Wednesday.
    Agnelli and the Juve board all quit in connection with the probe on Monday.
    The prosecutor's office in Turin has prepared the request for indictment, the sources said.
    The measure concerns Agnelli and almost all the other people who in recent weeks had received notice of the closure of investigations against them.
    The position of some of them has been eliminated in view of a probable request to shelve the case.
    Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) President Gabriele Gravina on Wednesday warned against "lynching" Juventus after the Agnelli quit as chairman this week along with the rest of the board due to problems regarding the Turin giants' accounts. Prosecutors in the northern Italian city are investigating allegations that the club presented false information to investors about its accounts in recent years.
    The accounts of the club, a listed company, have also come under the scrutiny of Italian stock-market regulator Consob.
    On Tuesday the FIGC opened a sporting probe into the case.
    "If we want lynching in the street, that's no problem, but we should calm down because I fear that this issue may regard other subjects too," Gravina said on the sidelines of the 'Calcio & Welfare' conference in Naples.
    "I have to stress, out of seriousness and intellectual honesty, that the soccer world is going through moments of tension all over Europe and the world, not just in Italy.
    "And I don't like the idea of punishing some entities, in this specific case Juventus, before a trial has been held.
    "We don't declare subjects guilty and punish them before the investigations".
    Gravina also criticized Spain's LaLiga for calling on UEFA to punish Juventus.
    "We are in close contact with UEFA. I see there have been some gratuitous attacks by those who should focus on getting their own houses in order," he said.
    "I think they are quite out of place".
    Juventus owner John Elkann said Wednesday the Turin giants did not need fresh capital amid the probe into their accounts which has spurred the board to quit.
    "Juventus does not need more capital," Exor Managing Director Elkann told financial analysts, answering a question.
    "The situation is very clear, as is the direction which we must proceed in".
    Elkann, whose Exor is Juve's parent company, said the club would have a new board led by a ""quality professional like Gianluca Ferrero, a valid general manager and a very strong coach (in confirmed Massimiliano Allegri).
    "Soccer is a value sector and we think that with the ingredients which Juventus has it has the capacity to become a company of greater value than what it has today". (ANSA).