ROME: Atalanta defender Andrea Masiello has become the latest Serie A player arrested in the latest inquiry into matchfixing by the prosecutor’s office in Bari.

Bari’s last nine matches in Serie A last season are being looked into, according to the Italian federation, including the derby in which Masiello’s own goal helped Lecce win 2-0 to avoid relegation after Bari had already been relegated.

Prosecutor Antonio Laudati said: “We have obtained evidence, during our investigation into the Bari-Lecce game on May 15 last year, that promises made before the match were transformed into money after the end of the game.”

Eight other players then with the club – Daniele Portanova, Alessandro Parisi, Simone Bentivolgio, Marco Rossi, Abdelkader Ghezzal (now with Spain’s Champions League place-chasing Levante), Marco Esposito, Antonio Bellavista and Nicola Belmonte – have all been interviewed under caution.

Rossi, now with Cesena, has said he was urged by men he described as ‘ultras’ to help fix two matches on which they wanted to bet for Bari to lose.

In June last year, the Interior Ministry set up a special match-fixing task force in response to a number of high profile cases.

Former Atalanta captain and Italy midfielder Cristiano Doni, was banned for three-and-a-half years in August for his part in the ‘Calcioscommesse’ match-fixing scandal involving Serie B matches last season.

Atalanta, promoted from Serie B, were deducted six points in the top flight this season as a result of the scandal.

Former Lazio and Italy striker Giuseppe Signori was banned for five years and 15 other players were banned for between one and five years for their part in the same scandal

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