Belgian police probing the accounts of Standard Liege have searched the soccer club’s offices.
Four players have also been interrogated: Portuguese international forward Sergio Conceicao, Serb international defender Ivica Dragutinovic, Croatian midfielder Miljenko Mumlek and Guinean international forward Sambegou Bagoura.
General director Pierre Francois said: “We went through the same thing in May 2004 when stacks of files were taken away.
“I do not know where we are in the inquiry now. We thought that everything had been forgotten because we had no official news since then, but now the nightmare begins again.”
Francois is expected to be questioned in the Liege law courts on Thursday.
“No problem, I have nothing to hide,” he said. “There is no black money here. All what the players are making – the salaries and bonuses – the transfer’s sums and agents’ commissions, everything appears in our books.
“We are the most scrutinized club in Belgium because we are a limited company and our book-keeping has to be clear and transparent.
“We have just submitted our annual balance to the National Bank as we have to, according to the law, and submitted our license file to the Belgian FA. What more can we do?”
Standard lie fourth in the Belgian first division, 17 points behind runaway leaders Club Bruges after 21 matches.
