Rome, March 18 (IANS): The president of Italy's Parma football team, Giampiero Manenti was arrested on Wednesday along with 21 others for alleged money laundering and embezzlement.

The operation, ordered by prosecutors in Rome, was carried out by Italian financial police in several cities across the country. Some 60 premises were also raided, including the State General Accounting Department in Rome and the headquarters of the Parma club, reports Xinhua.

All people arrested were variously charged with embezzlement, criminal association, money laundering, use of illicit funds, and computer fraud, prosecutor Michele Prestipino said a press conference.

Manenti was charged with attempted use of illicit funds.

He is thought to have received about 4.5 million euros from those involved in the alleged criminal organisation, "which included people from Sicily, Calabria, and Campania well connected to mafia-type organizations", an investigator said.

According to prosecutors, Parma president was looking for fresh resources in order to deal with his club's financial deficit.

The alleged criminal group tried to make the required money available to Manenti through "a large amount of illicit funds loaded on to cloned credit cards".

This operation was not successful due to technical problems, and was meanwhile brought to light by financial police officers during a three-month-long investigation, prosecutors added.