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Former Marseille sporting director and coach Jose Anigo has been released without charge by police investigating alleged illegal payments during transfers involving the Ligue 1 club. Anigo, who stepped down from his role as sporting director and interim coach last summer to scout for the club in Africa, had returned to France voluntarily to talk to police. "Jose Anigo has been freed without charge after being held, during which time he was able to explain himself calmly and with full transparency," Anigo's lawyer, Emmanuel Molina, told media. "I am happy for him, for the honest and upstanding man he is. Jose Anigo reaffirms he has always worked in OM's interest with professionalism and loyalty." Anigo, who also played for Marseille, was one of a number of figures held, including agents and alleged members of the Mediterranean city's underworld, as part of a probe into illicit payments made during transfers, notably Souleymane Diawara's arrival from Bordeaux in 2009 and that of Andre-Pierre Gignac from Toulouse the following year. During a first wave of arrests in November, OM president Vincent Labrune and his predecessors Jean-Claude Dassier and Pape Diouf were questioned before being released without charge.
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