CALISTO TANZI, the founder and former chief executive of Parmalat, will stand trial for his role in the collapse of the Italian food and dairy multinational in the €14.5 billion (£9.6 billion) fraud scandal billed as “Europe’s Enron”.
Along with Signor Tanzi, 15 executives have also been charged with market manipulation, issuing false information on accounts and obstructing Consob, the Italian stock market regulator. Those accused could face up to six years in prison.
The Italian offices of Bank of America, the auditors Deloitte & Touche and the former Italian affiliate of Grant Thornton also face charges of helping Parmalat to hide the group’s huge problems from investors. Two Deloitte partners and three Bank of America employees were indicted as individuals.
Parmalat was declared bankrupt in December 2003 after it was revealed that €4 billion that supposedly it held in an offshore bank account did not exist. Then it emerged that there was a €14.5 billion hole in the group’s accounts. As the scandal grew, tens of thousands of investors worldwide found that the Parmalat bonds that they held were practically worthless.
The implosion of one of Italy’s few real multinationals shattered the nation’s confidence in its business and financial system.
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The first hearing in the Milan trial has been scheduled for September 28. Signor Tanzi is expected eventually also to stand trial in Parma, where the dairy giant is based and where prosecutors are investigating him and others for alleged fraud, although no indictment requests have been filed yet in that branch of the wide-ranging investigations into the Parmalat debacle.
Signor Tanzi’s lawyers said that the group’s founder had “accepted” his indictment calmly. “He intends to reiterate, however, that he never knew of or approved the sale of bonds to investors,” they said, referring to one of the key issues in the Milan investigation.
Dozens of Italian and international banks are accused of selling Parmalat bonds to investors even when they knew that the company was failing. Thousands of small Italian investors lost their savings when their bonds turned out to be worthless.
Last week prosecutors in Milan refused to accept an offer from Signor Tanzi to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of just two years in jail. Prosecutors said that the charges against him were too serious. Signor Tanzi was remanded in jail in December 2003 and then granted house arrest in April 2004. He was released from house arrest in September 2004.
Under Enrico Bondi, the government-appointed administrator now in charge of the company, Parmalat has pruned away many non-core activities and is planning to relist on the stock market in the autumn. Creditors will examine a proposal to swap a large chunk of debt for shares.
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A spokesman for Deloitte in Britain said: “The two partners from Deloitte Italy believe these actions are entirely unjustified and will defend themselves vigorously.”