Comments on: That 1.7 million’s Not a Bribe! It’s for Chocolate and Candies!

By: Daryl

Daryl — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:27:31 +0000

Actually Ian, that’s a really good point. Assuming the 1.7 million was intended to be a payment to the Universitatea players if they got a results against Cluj, then that means the money is unspent.

But if Becali really was going to spend it on chocolate and candies then Cluj’s win doesn’t change anything. So the best way for Becali to prove his innocence would be to actually spend 1.7 million euros on sweets.

Which would at the very least be good news for some lucky Cluj sweetshop/candystore.

By: Ian Rose

Ian Rose — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:10:20 +0000

I’m not even that concerned with the legality of it. The biggest point of the story to me is the hugeness and brazenness of the lie. Until he produces 2.5 million dollars in candy, with a receipt from Cluj, I think it’s clear he lied. And he did it in a way that suggests he didn’t much care if he got caught. But overall, yeah, I’m with Daryl – any more info on Cluj’s own scandals would be fantastic to hear. We certainly don’t have bias one way or the other on this site – as you say, it’s more ignorance.

By: Daryl

Daryl — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:54:59 +0000

Fair enough gogu. But help me walk that long road to non-naivety.

Sounds like you know your Romanian footy, so can you fill us in on what Cluj have done this year, and how widespread the corruption is? Sounds from your comment that it goes a lot deeper than just Gigi Becali.

By: gogu

gogu — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:11:02 +0000

Last I’ve checked, one doesn’t get punished by intention. And even so, awarding money to a team in order beat their opponents is not punishable by law but by the FA’s internal rules. DNA is just making a fuss to make people think they actually do something.

Needless to say, CRF are no saints either. They’ve had way too many duboius calls going for them and their owner has managed to get quite a good reputation despite his downright illegal ways (for which there’s undeniable proof) he made at least some of his money.

Romanian football is an interesting world but yours is just a naive article. You’ve still got quite some road to walk.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:12:18 +0000

You have no idea how much it troubles me that you’ve researched this.

:-)

By: Daryl

Daryl — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:54:06 +0000

That crossed my mind. But Ziua Mamei (Romanian Mother's Day) is March 8th. Which means he's definitely guilty.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:30:02 +0000

Oh, come on. You always take the dark view of things. I’m quite certain this is all a misunderstanding due to the fact that Mother’s Day is coming up. He’s just a good son.