Conte investigated for match-fixing

ROME – Italian police investigating a football match-fixing scandal placed Juventus trainer Antonio Conte under investigation and arrested the captain of Lazio Stefano Mauri and former Genoa midfielder Omar Milanetto, authorities said on Monday.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Juventus coach Antonio Conte.

ROME – Italian police investigating a football match-fixing scandal placed Juventus trainer Antonio Conte under investigation and arrested the captain of Lazio Stefano Mauri and former Genoa midfielder Omar Milanetto, authorities said on Monday.A police statement said five people had also been arrested in Hungary on suspicion of being part of an illegal international betting ring headed by Singaporean gambling identity Tan Seet Eng, who was arrested in December.Police in the northern city of Cremona said they had made 19 arrests and were investigating Conte, fresh from his triumph in leading Juventus to the Italian Serie A championship for the first time since the club was relegated in 2006 in an earlier match-fixing scandal.It said searches were conducted at the homes of a number of players, trainers and administrators of clubs in Serie A, Serie B and the lower division Lega Pro on suspicion of involvement in match-fixing on behalf of international criminal organizations.Monday’s operation was part of "Last Bet”, a wider investigation into match-fixing in Italian soccer which has already seen a number of arrests of current and former Italian players."In this part of the investigation, indications have emerged of manipulation in matches from the 2010-11 Serie A championship, including games between Lazio and Genoa and Lecce and Lazio,” Raffale Grassi, director of SCO, the police service responsible for the investigation told SkyTG24 television.