Judge: 'Inter lobbied referees'

By Football Italia staff

A new development in the Calciopoli scandal, as a judge ruled Inter’s Giacinto Facchetti “lobbied” referees the same way as Luciano Moggi.

The reasoning behind the decision to clear ex-Juventus director general Moggi of defamation against Facchetti opened up old wounds from 2006.

Judge Oscar Magi wrote at the end of this trial that Moggi’s accusations during a TV show in October 2010 “contained a great deal of truth.”

For years there have been complaints that the taped phone calls between Moggi and the authorities in charge of referees were used out of context, as he insisted many big clubs had this same rather too friendly relationship.

Today Judge Magi backed that view of events, noting the calls were “an important element to qualify a sort of lobbying intervention from the then-Inter President towards the Referees Association.

“They signify a friendly and preferential rapport with the chiefs, whose attitude was not commendable.”

The FIGC Disciplinary Commission had tried to charge Inter, but the incidents had gone beyond the statute of limitations by the time these phone calls emerged.

This too was confirmed by Judge Magi, noting Moggi’s supposed defamation was based in truth.

“Moggi, in referring to the sporting justice system and the behaviour of Facchetti certainly did not invent the circumstances, even if they were less serious than his own.

“Facchetti’s behaviour can therefore be in some way compared to that of Moggi, although not in the courts.”

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