do not sign the budget»- breaking latest news

To speak of the tension of those days, he recalls the words of his lawyer: “Do not approve anything, do not approve this budget otherwise you will go straight towards the consequences you want to avoid”. Daniela Marilungo, 52, independent member of the Juve board of directors since 23 October 2015, speaks for eight hours as a person informed about the facts in front of the assistant prosecutor Marco Gianoglio, the prosecutor Mario Bendoni and three soldiers of the financial police, who are investigating the Juventus accounts. She was the first to leave, even before the whole board collapsed: “I resigned by e-mail and registered letter on November 25, 2022”.

He recalls that day, which began at 7.30, with a two-hour phone call to his lawyer: «I was pondering the decision but it wasn’t really in the air; in the face of the last board of directors, after a sleepless night, I felt uncomfortable». The previous day «both Andrea Agnelli and John Elkann, had communicated to us independent directors that Laurence Debroux e Suzanne Heywood (non-independent directors, ndr) had in turn announced their resignations”. Break: “This news triggers the timing of my resignation” and in the evening, “I have a good liberating cry”. It is only the beginning, because she is asked for the contact details of her lawyer, who however rejects the civil lawyers who follow Juve: “I only speak to criminal lawyers”. The atmosphere heats up further, as in the following days Marilungo continues to receive summoning emails, to which the lawyer calls the black and white ones saying that «if Juventus doesn’t correct this thing, he will immediately go to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and report everyone». However, time is running out: «Juventus also has other supervisory activities, so the reason for these accelerated timings was that if the board didn’t deposit the balance sheet we couldn’t register for the championships».

More: «The sword of Damocles that everyone represented to us (the financial director Cerrato, the head of the legal office Gabasio, Agnelli) was this of the registration to the various sporting competitions». There are also slides, says the witness: without presentation of the financial statements there was a risk of non-registration or penalty points. “First the deadline was supposed to be in November, then it turned out that it was possible until June 2023”. In short, the situation becomes tangled: “Our concern increases, we have been repeatedly told how these sporting consequences could impact on business continuity”. Question from the prosecutors: who on the board advocated the thesis of going ahead with the draft budget approved on 23 September? «President Agnelli, clearly».

Immediately before the November 24 board meeting, Agnelli meets the independent directors: “The gist was: ‘You have to decide in or out; it’s difficult, I understand, but there are all the prerequisites for arriving at a positive decision”». And the same thing will happen before the lunch break in front of Elkann, who had a “soft and collaborative attitude”. Agnelli’s description had been “more tranchant: ‘They are afraid of being investigated'”, referring to the two non-independent directors. In short, “a surreal situation”. During a break, he talks to Spada, chairman of the board of statutory auditors: «Look, these two have resigned. He was impressed.” And again: «We have requested these documents (from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, ndr) in various forms and on several occasions. I’ve never seen any documentation.” Rather she receives a joke: «There are thousands of pages, do you want to read them all?». However: «I learned about the side letters at the end of October». He asked himself questions: “From the moment company professionals say A and Deloitte B, for me, things started to change.” An appeal to the TAR against the Consob resolution will also be discussed, but in the end the vote was taken to avoid confrontation.