Luis Suarez Italian citizenship exam rigged, prosecutors say
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Italian prosecutors said on Tuesday they had evidence that the language exam taken by Barcelona’s Uruguay striker Luis Suarez to obtain Italian citizenship ahead of a possible move to Juventus was rigged.
Suarez, whose wife is of Italian descent, passed the exam last Thursday at the University for Foreigners in Perugia.
It cleared the way for a fast-track citizenship approval which would mean Juventus could sign him without exceeding its permitted quota of non-EU players, but suspicions were quickly raised in the media that he was given preferential treatment.
Perugia chief prosecutor Raffaele Cantone said his investigations showed the questions had been agreed with Suarez ahead of the exam and it had already been decided what mark to give him, despite his scarce knowledge of Italian.
Police searched the university on Tuesday looking for further evidence, Cantone said in a statement, while Italian newspaper la Repubblica reported that five university employees had been put under investigation, including the rector.
Suarez himself is not cited among those under investigation.
La Repubblica published alleged conversations tapped by police during their probe, in which a tutor preparing Suarez for the exam told a colleague “he can’t speak a word” in Italian.
