Prosecutor Resigns, Details Of “Secret” Cristiano Ronaldo Documents Revealed

This past week has seen two major developments in the “Prisma” investigation into Juventus, with the lead prosecutor resigning and details of an alleged pact between the club and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The case centres around an investigation into inflated player transfer fees reported previously in this column which saw authorities look into a number of player transfers, with the belief that the club was registering unrealistic figures as a plusvalenza.

Technically that is the Italian word for “capital gains,” an accounting term for the profit earned on the sale of an asset like stocks, bonds or real estate, usually used to describe the difference between the (higher) selling price and (lower) cost price of a particular asset.

“I hate Juventus”

Back in February, a video of the Turin Prosecutor investigating the case emerged. Recorded back in 2019, it shows Ciro Santoriello admitting that he is “a super fan of Napoli” who “hates Juventus.”

Remarkably, the video was from an interview with Santoriello explaining why he had dismissed a separate case against Juventus and their former President Andrea Agnelli back in 2015-16.

According to news agency ANSA, the club had not included a sum in the ‘charges and risks’ section of their balance sheet, but the Prosecutor did not find any wrongdoing, so he dismissed the case.

In attempting to show he was not being biassed towards Juve, Santoriello confessed to being a Napoli fan, but clearly admitting that he “hated” the Bianconeri caused an uproar from which he could not recover.

As a result, multiple reports in Italy (including this one from the Corriere dello Sport) insist that Santoriello has officially decided to relinquish his role in the case. That means two other judges – including the deputy prosecutor Marco Gianoglio – will replace him.

“Secret” Pact With Cristiano Ronaldo

Meanwhile, evidence of an agreement between Juve and Cristiano Ronaldo has emerged thanks to a WhatsApp conversation between a number of former club directors.

It has been alleged that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bianconeri agreed to pay players “off the books” despite reporting in their accounts that the squad had agreed to not being paid.

That included over €19,500,000 ($21 million) in wages owed to Ronaldo for the 2020/21 season, with the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office believing that the club privately agreed to pay him the full figure despite announcing their decision to freeze wages for a few months.

Now, the CalcioMercato website has published a report of a WhatsApp conversation between directors that has allegedly been discovered by the Guardia di Finanza, Italy’s financial police.

In it, they discussed Ronaldo’s situation with a message from club secretary Paolo Morganti on April 23, 2021 which said “Second salary manoeuvre, Cristiano has signed. He has a copy of all the documents.”

Sporting director Federico Cherubini then replied: “Good!” Previously in the conversation, Cesare Gabasio – the head of Juve’s legal department – wrote “The first one ready to sign is Cristiano.”

The Appeal Continues

The Italian FA handed Juve a 15-point penalty in January, which is independent of those wiretaps and documents collected by the Turin Prosecutor, with their appeal hearing set to take place on April 19.

Speaking at an event this week, new club President Gianluca Ferrero insists they will continue to fight on all fronts against these various issues which led to the resignation of his predecessor Andrea Agnelli and the entire board of directors.

“Juventus will defend ourselves with all our strengths in the competent venues, I was and remain a Juventus fan,” Ferrero said per CalcioMercato. “What we said in the meeting with the team remains. The club will play its part in the courtrooms and the players, as they are doing, are called to answer on the pitch.”

The Old Lady currently sits seventh in Serie A, seven points outside the Champions League places and has advanced to the quarterfinals of the UEFA
EFA
Europa League.