LUIS SUAREZ did ‘cheat’ on a ‘farce’ Italian language exam required for obtaining Italian citizenship and joining Juventus, a police investigation has found.
The Uruguayan arrived at the University of Perugia in order to sit the exam, ahead of his then-mooted move to Juve from Barcelona.
Suarez arrived in Perugia to sit the exam in SeptemberCredit: EPA
Suarez, 33, passed the exam before a cheat row erupted.
And after more than two months, an investigation has found that Suarez had been ‘communicated in advance’ the contents of the paper.
Three professors and the director of the university, Simone Olivieri, have now been suspended for eight months.
The report concludes that they were guilty of: “Coming to predetermine the outcome and the score of the exam, to correspond to the requests that they had been put forward by Juventus, with the aim of achieving a positive return of image, both personal and for the university.”
According to Di Marzio, members of Juventus are also under investigation by Italian police.
And the probe found that Juve officials had ‘taken action, even at the highest institutional levels, to accelerate the recognition of Italian citizenship towards Suarez’.
The former Liverpool star had been aiming to secure citizenship through his wife Sofia Balbi, who has Italian ancestry.
Amid the cheating row, Suarez’s move to Juventus subsequently fell through.
Suarez joined later Atletico MadridCredit: EPA
And the Barcelona outcast joined Atletico Madrid on September 23, signing a two-year contract.
Four staff members of the University of Perugia have been suspended amid the investigation.
These punishments have been dished out for the ‘crimes of disclosure of office secrecy aimed at undue financial gain and multiple ideological falsehoods in public documents’.
The attorney general for the University of Perugia, however, ‘affirmed that Juventus also activated at the highest institutional levels for the exam of Suarez’.
Luis Suarez arrives to take Italian exam which Barcelona star must pass or Juventus transfer deal will collapse
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
