CONI, the Italian Olympic Committee, is opening a new judicial proceeding against the Italian Swimming Federation over the same funding dispute that’s been ongoing since 2014.
The dispute revolves around the 2009 World Championships, which were hosted in Rome, Italy. In 2014, CONI took the swimming federation (FIN) to court over a sum of about €826,000 (something like $910,000 in U.S. Dollars). The money was intended to be spent by the swim federation on the 2009 World Championships pool, but CONI said the funds were unaccounted for. Italian swim federation president Paolo Barelli at the time offered to resign if he was found guilty.
CONI is being led by Giovanni Malago, a former football player who has been president of the Italian Olympic Committee since 2013.
The Italian Swimming Federation published a press release this week strongly denying any wrongdoing. You can read the full release, in English, here. We have a couple excerpts below:
“It took three years to declare Federnuoto and its president alien from any legal dispute; three years that seem forgotten: during which the Coni of Giovanni Malagò had repeatedly tried to commission a federation that in the meantime won Olympic, world and European medals,” the release says.
“For the sake of clarity: work on the Foro Italico swimming pools was reimbursed by the CONI only once, and partially, through a 2013 transaction that recognized the higher costs incurred by the federation during the management period of the Foro Italico swimming facilities given under concession from Cones to the Fin since 2006.”
