Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi faced a Milan judge yesterday in the first major trial over the dairy group's collapse almost two years ago in one of Europe's biggest corporate fraud scandals.
The trial got off to a slow start as just listing the civil parties occupied all of the hearing, which closed in the early afternoon. Lawyers had unexpectedly asked all the civil parties to the case to testify, meaning tens of thousands of investors who lost their savings in the crash could appear as witnesses.
Aside from Mr Tanzi, most of the 15 other Parmalat executives stayed away from the trial, which also involves two auditing firms. Giovanni Bonici, the former manager of Parmalat Venezuela, was one of the few in court.
The executives were sent to trial in June after eight months of preliminary hearings, on charges including market-rigging, false auditing and of hindering the work of regulators.
The Italian office of auditors Deloitte & Touche and Grant Thornton's former Italian unit were also charged with helping Parmalat to mislead investors.
Bank of America's Italian office will appear as a civil party.
Mr Tanzi's lawyers have submitted a long list of witnesses to chief judge Luisa Ponti, including the chairmen of banks Capitalia and Mediobanca, officials from stock market regulator Consob and from the Bank of Italy.
"We will not escape from this trial, we will confront it. We'll present ourselves to the court as a compact group," said Mr Tanzi's lawyer, Fabio Belloni.
Deloitte has denied wrongdoing and Grant Thornton severed ties with its Italian unit in the weeks that followed the €14 billion accounting scandal.
In June 10th, other Parmalat executives, including several Tanzi family members, and a lawyer were sentenced to jail as part of a plea-bargain deal that spared them a trial in Milan. As first-time offenders, none of them are expected to have to spend time in prison.
Other cases are still open in Milan, where prosecutors have been investigating suspected financial crimes since Parmalat crumbled under the weight of billions of euros of debt, leaving investors with nearly worthless paper. - (Reuters)
