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Buffon's bank transfer was for 20 Rolex watches and not sports betting, reveals lawyer
1 Jun 2012 18:20:00
The World Cup winner is said to have handed over €1.5 million to a bookmaker but his legal counsel has claimed that there is no evidence that his client placed a single wager
The lawyer of Gianluigi Buffon has dismissed the suggestion that the Italy captain is guilty of illegal gambling, revealing that one of the payments he made to a Parma betting shop was for 20 Rolex watches.According to a document produced by the country's financial law enforcement agency on Thursday, the Juventus goalkeeper made out 14 cheques, worth approximately €1.5 million, to the owner of the tobacconist over a nine-month period.
As a member of the Italian Football Federation, Buffon is forbidden from gambling on any games sanctioned by the FIGC, Fifa or Uefa, but his lawyer has stated that there is absolutely no evidence that his client placed bets of any variety.
"The most significant bank transfer, dating back to September 13, 2010, concerns the purchase of 20 Rolex watches, which have been in Gianluigi's safe for months," Marco Valerio Corini told Radio Radio TV.
"A purchase that is compatible with his income and one that is written in the random bank transfer. What else should he do? We can show that every payment was not related to sports betting."
Indeed, Corini is dismayed that Buffon is even under suspicion, claiming that there is no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the World Cup winner.
"If we want to get to the facts, it is not a criminal process or a sporting law interest," the lawyer argued on Sky Sport24.
"There is nothing that can be shown that Buffon has bet. These are economic transactions between two people who have known each other for years, one of whom also runs a betting shop.
"From there, there is no doubt that they could not be real estate transactions or otherwise; one thinks that they must necessarily be bets and what's more, illegal. But there is not even any proof that it is a bet.
"Buffon has been and is always available in a frank, loyal and cooperative manner."
The news that Buffon's transactions were under investigation came just days after the veteran launched a stinging attack on the nation's media for their coverage of the Scommessopoli scandal.
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