More shocking news out of Italy, that Italian captain and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been interrogated by Turin tax police for his alleged involvement in illegal gambling.
Buffon was interrogated by the police on Thursday, although the investigation is not said to be related to the latest match-fixing scandal that has hit Italian football.
According to various reports in Italy, Buffon is reported to have bet over 1.5 million euros via a betting agency in a Parma tobacconist’s shop.
Between January and September 2010 Buffon wrote out 14 cheques for sums betweena 50,000 and 200,000 Euro totalling 1,585,000 Euro. They were all written out to Massimo Alfieri (the owner of a tobacconist’s in Parma who is authorised to place bets through the on-line system Lottomatica).
Buffon had faced gambling allegations in the past but has always been cleared and attorney Marco Valerio Corini denied any suggestion of wrongdoing by his client this time also saying:
“There is nothing which could even carry the faintest suggestion of a connection between Gianluigi Buffon and any betting activity that would concern him in any irregularity either with respect to federation rules or criminal law,” he told SkyTG24 television.
“There is not the slightest foundation for any suggestion that this is connected with a bet.”
