It is useful to remember that the issue of capital gains for so-called exchange transactions is the one from which the entire investigation by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office, which ended yesterday, started. Well, this is an issue that does not record anything new today, and with respect to which two sentences of sports justice have already recognised the full accounting regularity of the Company, which acted in full consistency with the practice of the football industry.
As for the salary reduction and integration agreements, these are good corporate governance initiatives adopted in the emergency context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the suspension of football competitions and the closure of stadiums. The Company, in a press release of 28 March 2020, announced, in full transparency to the market and shareholders, a reduction in salaries agreed with the players, pointing out that any additional compensation would be negotiated and paid if and when sporting competitions resumed and stadiums were reopened. This exceptional situation of emergency and uncertainty lasted, as is well known, from the 2019/20 football season until the entire 2020/21 season, since it was only in the spring of 2022 that the stadiums were fully reopened to the public. The Company has therefore accounted for the changes in salaries and additions to remuneration in line with their progressive definition and in compliance with the reference accounting regulations.
As regards the general accusation of falsifying the financial statements and making improper communications to the market, Juventus and its representatives believe they have operated in observance of the law and the relevant technical-accounting principles. Moreover, during the years of interest, Juventus has distinguished itself for having carried out two different capital increases in full transparency and respecting regulations to the letter. These extraordinary operations have confirmed the solidity of the Company in the Italian football scene. In particular, the second capital increase, initiated independently by the Company in June 2021, i.e. a few months before the news of the investigation by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office, was aimed at strengthening the Company's assets following the strong impact of the pandemic. The amounts of these capital increases exceed and largely absorb the numbers of the formal objections of this investigation, which in any case would have no effect on the Company's indebtedness.