Amid allegations of misappropriation of transfer funds at Marseille, all the club's transfer dealings have been placed under the microscope which include the sale of Samir Nasri to Arsenal and Didier Drogba to Chelsea. They have come under investigation as it is alleged that Marseille received received only £23.6 million for Drogba, with the sale of Nasri and the purchase of Andre Pierre Gignac are also said to be huge in this case.
Marseille President Vincent Labourne was arrested on Tuesday night but Arsenal and Chelsea have so far not been suspected of being involved in the alleged wrong-doing with the French giants. The club's main shareholder Margarita Louis-Dreyfus expressed her confidence in the club's current management and French judicial system. Meanwhile, police targeted several second-tier clubs in a separate investigation into possible match-fixing, with searches and arrests across the country. The investigation centers around the club of Nimes, which is suspected of fixing or attempting to fix matches as it avoided relegation last season.
A judicial official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said "about 10 people" have been arrested, including Nimes president Jean-Marc Conrad, Caen chairman Jean-Francois Fortin and Dijon coach Olivier Dall'Oglio. The official added that former player Xavier Gravelaine, now Caen's general director, had also been heard in the case but was not arrested.
"If these suspicions are confirmed, it will be an extremely serious matter," French league president Frederic Thiriez said. "Corruption, and even just suspicions of corruption, are a deadly poison for sport in general and football in particular." Thiriez said to the two Parisian judges ordered the raids, adding that the clubs could be excluded from the league if they are convicted of wrong-doing. "The people investigated could appear before an investigative judge in a brief delay," Thiriez said. "In that case, the league and the French federation would obviously support the state's case."