Inter under FIGC investigation

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) are set to launch an investigation after referee Massimo De Santis accused Internazionale and their owner Massimo Moratti of spying on him.

De Santis, who was banned for four years by the FIGC in the match-fixing scandal this summer, claimed Moratti had illegally recorded his telephone conversations. These allegations came after another scandal broke out in the past few days revealing hundreds of cases of phone interceptions by telecommunication giants Telecom Italia.

“When I first learned about this operation by Massimo Moratti I was disgusted, even if I know that can be a strong word to use,” said De Santis in a television interview. “I am paying for something that I didn’t do, I have always stated my innocence and to know today what was happening a few years ago really makes me sick. Why were they following me? I think they maybe wanted to blackmail me.”

The complaint relates to the 2002/03 season when former Inter vice-president, the late Giacinto Facchetti, held a conversation with former referee Danilo Nucini. Nucini told Facchetti he feared De Santis had an extraordinary relationship with the then Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi and other Juve directors.

Facchetti passed on Nucini's remarks to Moratti, who hired a team of investigators, 'Polis d'Istinto', to record De Santis' telephone conversations, to follow and film him and his wife and take secret photographs.

The investigation however brought to no firm results and the file was closed seeing as “there were no anomalies in De Santis’ way of life.”

After the state investigation was last week opened up into the illegal monitoring of telephone calls by Telecom Italia, details of Moratti's private investigation were revealed.

If the accusations prove to be true, Inter could receive a fine, although a points deduction is not a possibility since they have, at worst, broken article one of the sport’s code of justice and not articles two or six, which were infringed upon by Juve, who were consequently relegated to Serie B this summer.

The Inter owner also faces the prospect of a suspension for breaking the game's code of justice relating to fairness and honesty.

Moratti reacted immediately, saying that his club has nothing to do with the interceptions despite Telecom Italia being one of its shareholders. “He’s got some cheek to say this kind of things – Inter has no involvement in this issue,” said the oil tycoon to La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I think De Santis’ words are very serious, he cannot ignore the damage he is causing us by making these statements.”

This latest disturbance comes at a time when the FIGC are attempting to put all the problems from this summer behind them.