The Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested that the investigation into Inter and referee Rocchi be dropped

The Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office has closed its investigation into the alleged manipulation of referee appointments. No evidence emerged to support the allegation of a scheme designed to influence the selection of match officials, of which Gianluca Rocchi – the former referee appointing officer who suspended himself following the notice of investigation received last April – his deputy Andrea Gervasoni, and Inter were accused. The Nerazzurri club was entered in the register of persons under investigation and the case was immediately closed.

In a statement released on 14 July, the Public Prosecutor’s Office explains that it has established "the historical existence of the individual instances of alleged interference" through telephone wiretaps, interrogations, hearings and – as has now emerged – surveillance operations. However, the investigators point out that they have not found "a structured system aimed at interfering with appointments", distinguishing the conduct that has come to light from criminal sports fraud, which requires fraudulent behaviour capable of altering the integrity of a single match.

Specifically, the public prosecutor’s office asked the investigating judge to dismiss the case concerning the alleged interference with referee appointments, forwarded the case files relating to the incidents that took place in the VAR room in Lissone – which falls within its territorial jurisdiction – to the public prosecutor’s office in Monza, and sent copies of the case files to the FIGC’s federal public prosecutor’s office and the CONI’s General Public Prosecutor’s Office for Sport, so that they might assess any matters of disciplinary relevance.