Sun, Jul 09, 2006 - Page 23 News List

Judges retire ahead of Italian match-fixing verdict

AP , ROME

The trial in Italy's soccer scandal wrapped up on Friday as the seven judges retired to deliberate on the fate of four Serie A clubs facing possible relegation on match-fixing charges.

Lead judge Cesare Ruperto said it could take from three to 15 days for verdicts.

Prosecutors are seeking demotion for Juventus to Serie C -- the third division -- or lower; and for AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio to be relegated to Serie B. They are also seeking to strip Juventus, the club at the center of the scandal, of the league titles it won in the past two seasons. Twenty-five soccer officials -- including referees -- also face charges of match-fixing and disloyalty at the tribunal set up by the Italian soccer federation at the Olympic stadium. The officials face being barred from holding jobs in soccer.

Ruperto dismissed the claim that summary justice would be handed down in the worst scandal in Italian soccer history.

"Some say that the sentence has already been written. If that is so we invite them to hand it over, to save us some work," Ruperto told the lawyers and prosecutors before closing the trial.

In the final session, a lawyer for former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi defended the man at the center of the scandal.

Moggi and former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo are accused of creating a network of contacts with federation officials to influence refereeing assignments and get players booked. The two resigned in May, along with the club's entire board.

Moggi, who defended himself in a TV interview last week, never showed up at the trial and his lawyer Paolo Trofino told the tribunal Friday that it was to avoid "further stress."

Trofino asked the judges to throw out the charges on technical grounds, arguing that Moggi could not be subject to a sports tribunal as he had resigned and was no longer employed in soccer.

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