By Baris Seckin
ROME (AA) – The Italian Football Federation said on Thursday that the 15-point deduction penalty given to Juventus the for its involvement in the financial irregularity investigation was lifted.
The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) Arbitration Board discussed the objections to the Bianconeri's 15-point deduction penalty in January and the deprivation of rights given to club managers as the Serie A team asked for the penalty to be revoked.
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, the CONI Arbitration Board accepted the objection to the 15-point deletion penalty given to Juventus and decided to send the file to the federation for reconsideration.
Appeals of former Vice President Pavel Nedved and former managers Paolo Garimberti and Enrico Vellano were accepted by the Board of Arbitration, while the objections to the sentences of former President Andrea Agnelli, former sporting director Fabio Paratici and manager Federico Cherubini, who were mentioned in the financial irregularity investigation and sentenced to ineligibility, were rejected.
Juventus, which were in the eight place with 44 points due to the point deletion penalty, rose to the third place with 59 points with the reiteration of 15 points.
As part of the investigation called "Prisma," which was started by the Turin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in May 2021, the financial accounts of Juventus for the period 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 were examined and searches were made at the club's offices in Turin, Milan and Rome in November 2021 and March 2022.
Besides Agnelli and Nedved, chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene and the entire board of directors resigned on Nov. 28, 2022.
UEFA also decided to investigate Juventus on Dec. 1, 2022 on the grounds of possible violation of financial fair-play and club license rules.
As a result of the probe, the Italian Football Federation Sports Judge cleared eight clubs on Jan. 20 and sentenced Juventus to 15-point deduction.
Several staff members were sentenced to disenfranchisement, including Paratici, who is currently working at Tottenham Hotspur, for 30 months, Agnelli for 24 months, Arrivabene for 24 months and Nedved for eight months.
*Writing by Selcuk Bugra Gokalp