ROME: Two Serie A players have been banned for three months and 10 days and fined E10,000 each in the latest development in Italian football’s long-running match-fixing scandal.

Torino striker Paulo Vitor de Souza Barreto and Genoa defender Giovanni Marchese entered plea bargains and were handed the bans by the Italian federation for failing to report alleged match-fixing in a Serie B match between Salernitana and Bari in May 2009. Salernitana won the game 3-2.

Davide Lanzafame, who is currently on loan at Hungarian club Honved from Catania, received a 16-month ban and a E40,000 fine after also entering a plea bargain.

The punishments were issued following investigations into games involving Bari in the 2008-09 Serie B season and the 2010-11 Serie A campaign.

The prosecution alleges that players deliberately fixed matches against Sampdoria and Palermo in order to earn E140,000.

The inquiry is being led by magistrates in Bari and federal prosecutor Stefano Palazzi.

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