Monday, January 28, 2008
Sven linked to "white magic"
Sven-Göran Eriksson has been linked to an Italian faith healer, exorcist and “practitioner of white magic”.
On Tuesday, the self-described “Baroness” Clara Romano was placed under house arrest by police in the Italian port city of Ancona. She faces accusations of fraud and tax evasion.
According to ANSA, the Italian press agency, investigators found an uncashed cheque made out to her from Eriksson, which she allegedly kept “as a souvenir”.
The Manchester City manager and former England head coach may unwittingly have been drawn into the situation as Romano is known to have been in contact with numerous figures in Italian football, particularly at Lazio when the Swede was in charge in the late 1990s.
Massimo Moratti, the Inter Milan president, admitted in 2006 to having been among her clients.
An Italian television programme, filmed with a hidden camera, showed her taking credit for uncovering Serie A’s Calciopoli [match-fixing] scandal, which led authorities to strip Juventus of the 2005-06 title and award it to Inter.
“I made Inter win the title [by exposing the Calciopoli scandal through magic],” she said on the programme.
“And I told Moratti that I would help them win the scudetto if he supported my charitable project, a retirement community, the ‘City of the Aged’. I wasn’t asking for a lot, five or six million euros [about £4.5 million] ”
Moratti said that he never paid Romano such a large sum of money, though he did say that he would be willing to “contribute” to the project.
On Tuesday, the self-described “Baroness” Clara Romano was placed under house arrest by police in the Italian port city of Ancona. She faces accusations of fraud and tax evasion.
According to ANSA, the Italian press agency, investigators found an uncashed cheque made out to her from Eriksson, which she allegedly kept “as a souvenir”.
The Manchester City manager and former England head coach may unwittingly have been drawn into the situation as Romano is known to have been in contact with numerous figures in Italian football, particularly at Lazio when the Swede was in charge in the late 1990s.
Massimo Moratti, the Inter Milan president, admitted in 2006 to having been among her clients.
An Italian television programme, filmed with a hidden camera, showed her taking credit for uncovering Serie A’s Calciopoli [match-fixing] scandal, which led authorities to strip Juventus of the 2005-06 title and award it to Inter.
“I made Inter win the title [by exposing the Calciopoli scandal through magic],” she said on the programme.
“And I told Moratti that I would help them win the scudetto if he supported my charitable project, a retirement community, the ‘City of the Aged’. I wasn’t asking for a lot, five or six million euros [about £4.5 million] ”
Moratti said that he never paid Romano such a large sum of money, though he did say that he would be willing to “contribute” to the project.
