The German goalkeeper (naturalized Nigerian) of Udinese, the twenty-five year old Maduka Okoye, is under investigation by the Udine Prosecutor's Office for an anomalous flow of bets during the Lazio-Udinese match played on March 11th. The owner of a pizzeria frequented by the players and, occasionally, by the managers of the Friulian club has also been entered in the register of suspects. The two suspects are charged with fraud.
The investigation was triggered by a report from Sisal regarding a series of bets for significant amounts linked to the warning given to the Juventus goalkeeper during the match won 1-2 in Rome. Okoye was cautioned by the referee in the 19th minute of the second half for wasting time . A measure that worried coach Gabriele Cioffi quite a bit, who immediately sent one of his assistants behind the goal to talk to the goalkeeper and keep him calm, so that he would not risk further measures from the referee, with almost half an hour to go until the end of the match.
Aside from the possible criminal consequences, if Okoye – currently injured in the wrist – were to be found guilty by the sports justice system, he would risk a sentence starting from 4 years of exclusion from all competitions. In recent days, Udinese had signed the Norwegian goalkeeper Selvik who had become a free agent, to compete for a place with the Romanian Sava . It was thought to be a preventive move given the long unavailability of Okoye after the operation: in reality, the registration in the register of suspects dates back to mid-December and it is therefore probable that the Friulian club wanted to protect itself in the event of future measures by the sports justice system.
(Unioneonline).
