MILAN (Reuters) - Serie A's Chievo have been deducted three points and club president Luca Campedelli banned for three months after the Italian FA (FIGC) found the club guilty of accounting irregularities.
The FIGC said in a statement that its disciplinary tribunal had found that Chievo had inflated the value of some transfer dealings with Cesena, a club which played in the second tier Serie B last season.
As a result of the ban Verona-based Chievo, nicknamed the Flying Donkeys by their fans, have minus two points after three Serie A matches.
"The two clubs were referred for approving variations in the registration of some players, indicating a payment higher than the real (value)," said the FIGC in a statement.
It said this practice had allowed for "fictitious capital gains" and was aimed "showing a higher net worth than the one existing at the end of each year...in order to obtain the national licence."
The case against Cesena was dropped after the club went bankrupt during the summer, the FIGC said.
There was no immediate comment from Chievo on Thursday, however the club's lawyer Marco De Luca told Italian media before the hearing that the charges were "totally unfounded."
"For the calculations and for the values of the players, the Federal Prosecutor's Office refers to certain internet sites and values that are definitely wrong for all transactions in recent years," he said.
(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Keith Weir)