Serie A scandal? Referee chief under investigation for alleged sporting fraud

The head of referees for Serie A and Serie B has temporarily stepped aside after being placed under investigation by prosecutors in Milan for "sporting fraud."

Gianluca Rocchi said in a statement released on Saturday that he has decided to "suspend himself" from his role as the man who assigns referees to matches in Italy's top two divisions.

"This painful and difficult decision ... is intended to allow the judicial proceedings, from which I am certain I will emerge unscathed, to run smoothly," said Rocchi.

VAR chief Andrea Gervasoni is also under investigation for the same charge.

Rocchi is accused, alongside other unnamed suspects, of having piloted the selection of Andrea Colombo as the referee for Inter Milan's match at Bologna in April last year as he was "liked by Inter."

Inter lost that match 1-0 to a last-minute strike from Riccardo Orsolini.

Rocchi is also accused of having pressured a VAR official to encourage referee Fabio Maresca to check on the pitchside monitors for a handball offence during Udinese's 1-0 win over Parma in March last year.

Both Maresca on the pitch and Daniele Paterna in the VAR room had already ruled the incident was not worth a penalty.

In a video of the VAR room, Paterna can be seen turning away from his monitors and saying "it's a penalty" after being spoken to by someone off-camera.

Prosecutors allege that it was Rocchi who had banged on the VAR room door in order to pressure Paterna to change his decision not to review the handball, which eventually led to Florian Thauvin scoring the only goal of the game.

Sporting fraud is a criminal offence in Italy with a maximum sentence of six years in prison, and the files will also be sent to the Italian Football Federation whose own prosecutors could open their own probe.