BBC SPORT | Football | Teams | Man Utd | Veron faces passport charges

"All of them have been accused of forging an official document, which in this case is the supposedly illegal documents regarding Veron's passport," Lazio lawyer Ugo Longo told news agency PA International.

Petrelli insisted that his client was innocent and is confident he will be cleared of the charge.

"I can confirm that Juan Sebastian Veron has been accused of forging an official document," he said.

European passport scandal

"But I would like to point out that Veron maintains that he did not have anything to do with this, that it was Lazio and an Argentine agency who deals with the documents that were involved in this affair.

"Veron does not need the Italian citizenship as he is a world-class player and with his Argentina passport he has always been able to play at any club.

"He never went to pick up the Italian passport, but he did go and sign for the Italian citizenship in September 2000.

"If found guilty he could face a penal sentence but, according to Italian law, if you receive a sentence of less than two years and you have no previous convictions you will not go to prison.

Cragnotti called

"The player obviously wants this case to end as he believes that he had nothing to do with this."

The claims regarding the Veron passport came to light in 2000, but it has taken two years for the hearings to take place.

Lazio president Sergio Cragnotti has also been called to a hearing on 17 October to explain his role in obtaining the passports.

But Longo said: "Cragnotti is not worried because he was not involved in this issue with the exception that he authorised a payment to be made to an Argentinian, who organised the papers regarding the Veron documents from Argentina.

"But he did not know that those documents may have been forged."

Both Cragnotti and Veron were cleared by the Italian sports justice system on 27 June, 2001 but still have to be cleared by the legal justice system.


	Links to more Man Utd stories