Referees at the centre of a scandal that is shaking Italian soccer have passionately denied any wrongdoing. The furore - which led to the resignation of Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) Chief Franco Carraro Monday - exploded last week when wiretaps were published of Juventus General Manager Luciano Moggi discussing referee selection with the official who used to appoint them.
In them, Moggi asks Pier Luigi Pairetto to name "good" refs for three pre-season friendlies and chats with him about the refs assigned to two Champions League matches. The crisis subsequently deepened when it emerged that prosecutors in Naples and Rome had tapped telephone conversations of a number of referees, as part of criminal probes into sporting fraud.
On Monday Massimo De Santis, considered Italy's top ref and one of the officials whose conversations were monitored, counter-attacked.
"We referees are unperturbed and happy because all of us have refereed really well this season," said De Santis, one of two Italian refs selected for this summer's World Cup. "We are united at the moment and we wanted to make it clear in these difficult days that we are not willing to take this pummelling any more.
"We have certainly made mistakes on the field of play, but we have never done anything wrong off it. We have always acted correctly and our dignity has always been of the highest...I and all of my colleagues are willing to cooperate with both ordinary justice and sporting justice, because we have nothing to hide".
The conversations that sparked the scandal were recorded by Turin prosecutors as part of a doping probe before and after the start of the 2004-5 season, which Juve won.
The prosecutors sent the wiretaps to FIGC in March after determining that, while no criminal charges could be brought, there could be a case to answer at sporting tribunals. But FIGC did not launch its enquiry until the conversations were published - a delay that contributed to Carraro's downfall.
The content was explosive as it seemed to confirm Italian fans' age-old suspicions that the refs favour Juve.
Juventus has won 28th league titles, far more than any other club, and should celebrate clinching the 29th on Sunday.
European soccer's governing body UEFA has already reprimanded Pairetto, who is part of its Refereeing Committee, because the wiretaps showed he gave Juventus advance notice of which referees they would get for European games, breaking a confidentiality code.
The Naples and Rome criminal probes are looking into the company that handles most of Italian player transfers, GEA World, which is owned by Moggi's son Alessandro. Luciano and Alessandro Moggi and two other GEA directors are being investigated for alleged "illegal competition with threats and violence" and abuse of a "dominant position" in the market.
GEA has over 200 top professional footballers and coaches on its books.
On Tuesday Italian newspapers published a GEA document seized by Finance Police which instructed the company's collaborators to work "without threatening anyone, as has happened in the past".
UEFA has called on FIGC to act swiftly to sort out the mess.
"FIGC must clarify the situation and take the necessary measures," said William Gaillard, UEFA's communications and public affairs director.
"I understand the size of the problem and the reasons for Carraro's resignation, but the question is not clear at the moment".
According to press reports, Juventus' biggest shareholder, the Fiat group, is considering dumping Moggi and CEO Antonio Giraudo in a bid to cleanse the club of the scandal.
