Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti has been suspended for three months by the Italian Football Federation due to irregularities in the transfer of Diego Milito and Thiago Motta from Genoa last summer.
The case centres around the involvement of Genoa owner and president Enrico Preziosi, who is banned from footballing activities for five years but claimed to have instigated the sale of the duo to Inter. Preziosi has now been given an additional six-month suspension and Genoa fined 90,000 euros, while Inter have to pay out 45,000 euros and Moratti will not be able to be involved in footballing matters during this summer's busy transfer period.
"I have a lot of respect for the judges, but a lot less for the federation," said Moratti. "(Former Inter boss Jose) Mourinho was right when he said that this year would be hard and they would make us pay. He left for this reason. Unfortunately I can't do that because I don't have his freedom. I don't feel guilty at all. They didn't listen to our defence and justifications."
Milito scored 30 times for Inter last season and was instrumental in them winning the treble, with goals in the UEFA Champions League final, the Coppa Italia final and the last game of the campaign where victory secured the Serie A title. Preziosi was handed a five-year ban in May 2005 after he was found to be heavily involved in the club bribing Venezia to throw a match against Genoa.
The Grifone, who had just been promoted to Serie A for the first time in 10 years, were relegated to the third division. The FIGC have known about an alleged contravening of the ban for almost a year after Preziosi told local TV channel Telenord: "I saw Moratti at breakfast, we reached an agreement on the valuation of the two players and we shook hands. Between us there is a lot of sympathy and there could be other collaborations in the future."
Note: Rafa Benitez has been seen pulling his hair out...
