Juventus Up to 3rd After 15-point Penalty Suspended

After a three-hour hearing the day before, Juventus has now received the points back while the case is being remanded to the appeals court of the soccer federation.

On Thursday, Juventus had a 15-point penalty suspended, moving the storied Italian team up to third in Serie A and into the running for a place in the Champions League for the following season.

The case has been sent back to the appeals court of the soccer federation following a three-hour hearing the day before, and Juventus has been given the points back pending the new trial.

Any punishment would be for the following season because it is unlikely that this will be resolved before the season’s end.

In a close race for the Champions League qualifying spots, Juventus moved up one spot from seventh to third in the league, trailing Lazio by two points and Roma by three. A point ahead of Inter Milan, the defending champion AC Milan was eliminated from the top four.

Next month’s Champions League semifinal between the Milan teams will take place.

As a result of fraudulent accounting, Juventus was hit with a hefty fine in January. Several former board members, including former president Andrea Agnelli, were also given soccer activity bans.

Juventus denied wrongdoing and filed an appeal with CONI, the highest sports court in Italy that is part of the Italian Olympic Committee.

A number of the suspensions, including those for Agnelli and Tottenham director Fabio Paratici, were upheld. Pavel Nedvd was one of six former board members whose appeals were granted, though.

Following a probe into alleged false bookkeeping by the public prosecutors in Turin, the Juventus board of directors resigned in large numbers in November.

On the basis of the information provided by the Turin prosecutors, the case’s sports trial was reopened, which resulted in the points deduction.

Due to administrative issues, the preliminary hearing that was scheduled for last month in a Turin court was moved to May 10.

Juventus, Agnelli, and 11 other people are accused of market manipulation, obstruction of watchdog organizations, false billing, and false communications by a company that is publicly traded on the Milan stock exchange.

Reference: indianexpress.com