Post by QPR Report on Nov 12, 2008 7:57:15 GMT
Reuters - Prosecutor asks for six-year jail term for Moggi
ROME, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi should face six years in jail after being accused of using a player management agency to manipulate the Italian transfer market, a prosecutor said on Tuesday.
A judge is expected to rule in January if Moggi, his son Alessandro and Italy coach Marcello Lippi's son Davide are guilty in the case along with three other men.
The 71-year-old Moggi, already banned from football for five years for his part in a 2006 match-fixing affair, is also facing a separate criminal trial in January over that scandal.
Alessandro Moggi, who set up the Gea World player management agency, has been told he could face five years in prison while Davide Lippi should go to jail for 16 months for his involvement with Gea, prosecutor Luca Palamara told a court.
The six defendants, who deny the charges, have been accused of using threats and violence to make players sign for the management agency and sign for specific clubs so that Moggi's Juve side in the early part of the decade could prosper.
Juve were demoted to Italy's second divsion in 2006 when investigators ruled that then general manager Moggi was trying to pick favourable referees for their matches.
The Turin club are back in Serie A and have nothing to do with Moggi, who said in court on Monday that he never wanted to return to football.
A host of famous witnesses have been called to give evidence at the Gea trial in recent months including Italy coach Lippi, Juve's French striker David Trezeguet and England coach Fabio Capello.
Capello was accused by Palamara of withholding information to the trial and an investigation was launched into the former Juve coach.
The final throes of the Gea trial means there could soon be developments with the case against Capello.
(Writing by Mark Meadows in Milan, editing by Justin Palmer)