Next Monday, Juventus will appear in court for a preliminary hearing in the Prisma investigation. The case revolves around alleged illegal salary maneuvers conducted by Andrea Agnelli’s old regime which were kept away from the official balance sheet.

Some of the club’s former directors will either be present or represented in the hearing as defendants, the likes of Agnelli, his former vice-president Pavel Nedved and ex-club officials Maurizio Arrivabene and Fabio Paratici.

However, one man won’t be present in the trial despite being a protagonist since the start of the investigation.

According to ANSA via ilBianconero, general prosecutor Ciro Santoriello has stepped down from the Prisma case due to growing pressure following the emergence of old footage.

As we reported in a previous article posted several weeks ago, the prosecutor had revealed his passion for Napoli in an interview that dates back to 2019, while admitting that he’s “anti-Juventus”.

Therefore, the source understands that Santoriello won’t appear in front of the investigating judge on Monday, leaving the mission in the hands of the assistant prosecutor Marco Gianoglio and substitute Mario Bendoni.

Juve FC say

While this is positive news in the formal sense, one would wonder if it would have a practical effect on the final outcome.

After all, Santoriello was the one who oversaw the investigation and his colleagues are still the ones leading the prosecution.