Why Napoli will be investigated for the Victor Osimhen transfer

Napoli are now set to be investigated for the transfer that brought Victor Osimhen from Lille to the Partenopei, with reports stating that the full investigation could last as many as six months.

Sky Italia have now added more details around the investigation and why it is taking place. Their report claims that the Osimhen transfer is not the only Napoli move which is being investigated but four other transfers are also under the scanner currently.

From an investigation launched by the French JIRS Prosecutor’s Office (Juridiction Interrégionale Spécialisée – Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction) following a  complaint against unknown persons made in October 2021 by the new owners of Lille which, a review of the financial statements noticed financial irregularities and reported that to the French authorities.

Osimhen’s actual price was €71.246 million plus €10 million bonuses. The payment was to made across five years and as part of the move, the following players had moved to Lille to make up for the finances:

• Orestis Karnezis: €4.8 million
• Ciro Palmieri:  €7 million
• Claudio Manzi:  €4 million
• Luigi Liguori:  €4 million

The investigation has been going on since last summer when 5 warrant notices were served for:

• False accounting against president of the board of directors at Napoli,  Aurelio De Laurentiis, his son Edoardo De Laurentiis and Aurelio’s wife Jacqueline Baudit, the latter two as vice presidents of the board.
• Andrea Chiavelli was accused of false accounting, as managing director of the board of directors of the Napoli.
• The same crime, false accounting, is also charged by the investigators against  Valentina De Laurentiis , daughter of Aurelio, as managing director of the board of directors of the Partenopei.
• Finally, for the crime of fraudulent declaration, only the chairman Aurelio de Laurentiis is under investigation (as legal representative of the company)

Initially, the matter was already dealt with during the first capital gains investigation and no offences were found, as the Partenopei were acquitted. In the ongoing investigation, the major difference between Juventus’ investigation and Napoli’s investigation is that there are no tapped audio calls or phone recordings to concretely verify that false accounting was done.

Kaustubh Pandey| GIFN