Atalanta defender arrested in new match fixing probe

04:37 04/12/2013
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  • Atalanta’s Andrea Masiello has been arrested in a new probe into match-fixing in Italian football.    

    Bari prosecutors had ordered an investigation into match-fixing involving the city’s club following new evidence that players were paid bribes to help determine the outcome of various matches.    

    Masiello, a defender, was arrested at his home in Bergamo and taken to Bari for questioning.    

    He spent three years at Bari before joining Atalanta last summer.    

    Two other men, Giovanni Carella and Fabio Giacobbe, who were friends of Masiello and placed bets, were also arrested.    

    Prosecutors are looking into five Bari matches from last season and are investigating nine ex-Bari players, including Masiello.    

    In total 20 people are being investigated.    

    The matches under the spotlight include defeats Bari suffered against fellow relegation candidates Lecce and Cesena at the end of last season.    

    Bari had already been relegated at that point, while the others went on to avoid the drop.    

    As well as Masiello, Daniele Portanova, Alessandro Parisi, Simone Bentivolgio, Marco Rossi, Abdelkader Ghezzal, who now plays in Spain with Levante, Marco Esposito, Antonio Bellavista and Nicola Belmonte are under investigation.    

    “For Bari v Lecce on May 15, 2011, we’ve ascertained during the investigation that guarantees were made and then exchanged for money at the end of the game,” said Bari prosecutor Antonio Laudati.    

    Other matches under investigation are a 3-0 win over Genoa on May 2, a 3-3 draw at Udinese on May 9 and a 4-0 win at Bologna on the last day of the season.    

    Former Bari midfielder Rossi, who now plays for Cesena, told investigators that once the southerners had been relegated, they were approached by some of the club’s ‘ultra’ fans.    

    They were told to lose the next two games, against Cesena and Sampdoria, because the ultras had placed bets on a pair of defeats.    

    Rossi claims that despite being threatened, the players refused to comply, although they did lose both those games.    

    Speaking to a sports radio station, Bari general manager Claudio Garzelli moved to distance the club from any wrong-doing.    

    “These measures do not change in any way the scenario that has been created around our club,” he said.    

    “We took a very decisive position and maybe we were the first to speculate that all those people hanging around our playes were involved in match-fixing.    

    “We asked the football federation (Figc) for permission to denounce some players for match-fixing and this only serves to confirm our position.    

    “Apart from a few cases of questionable behaviour related to some internal diatribe, I never had any reason to believe that Masiello could be involved in any fraudulent activity.”    

    Figc president Giancarlo Abete promised a zero-tolerance policy and said the federation would act quickly to take sporting sanctions against those found guilty.    

    Ongoing investigations

    A series of investigations into match-fixing and illegal sports betting have been ongoing since last summer in Italy.    

    Several sides, mostly in the lower divisions, have been docked points this season for their involvement, including Atalanta, who started their Serie A campaign with a six-point penalty.    

    Their former emblematic striker Cristiano Doni was banned for three and a half years for his involvement, thus ending his playing career.     He was also later arrested by Cremona prosecutors in a separate investigation and eventually admitted to his role.    

    Former Lazio and Italy forward Giuseppe Signori was another to be banned from footballing activities by Figc, although he had long retired anyway.    

    He was also briefly placed under house arrest by police and is still being investigated.

     

     

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