Juventus in trouble: Police investigate possible accounting fraud

Turin's prosecution office has opened an investigation into Juventus regarding the transfers of Arthur Melo and Miralem Pjanic after potential accountancy fraud has been suspected.

Arthur was bought by Juventus in the summer of 2020 for 72 million euros, while Pjanic was sold to Barcelona for 60 million euros a couple of days later.

However, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, three Juventus directors are wanted for questioning over the two transfers - president Andrea Agnelli, vice-president Pavel Nedved and former sporting director Fabio Paratici.

The Bianconeri's last three balance sheets appear to have included some irregular details, which only adds to the club's financial issues.

An open investigation

A statement from the prosecution office has explained why Juventus are being investigated and who will be leading the investigation.

"There are various transfer deals of professional players and services rendered by some agents involved in the relative intermediaries under consideration," it read.

"The profile of administrative liability for an offence is also assumed at the company's expense, provided if a legal person has benefited from the commission of certain offences.

"In order to protect the stock market, the searches were initiated after the close of weekly trading on the Italian Stock Exchange (...).

"The investigation, dubbed 'Prisma', was launched in May 2021 and is entrusted to a group of Magistrates of the Economic Group, composed of deputy prosecutors Ciro Santoriello, Mario Bendoni and deputy prosecutor Marco Gianoglio."