Italian police arrested seven more suspects in the snowballing Parmalat fraud scandal on Wednesday as reports suggested the bankrupt food giant may soon turn to the banks for a multi-million pound rescue package to stay in business.
Two Italian executives of the global auditing firm Grant Thornton, two former Parmalat financial chiefs and the lawyer of the jailed Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi, were among the seven new suspects arrested in Milan, Parma and Como, according to a judicial official.
A fresh warrant was also issued for Tanzi, already being questioned in Milan’s San Vittore jail, and for another Parmalat official reportedly travelling outside Italy.
All those arrested are suspected by Parma investigators of criminal association leading to fraudulent bankruptcy and false accounting. No charges have yet been made.
The Grant Thornton executives, branch president Lorenzo Penca and partner Maurizio Bianchi, have been accused by a Milan judge of falsely certifying Parmalat’s balance sheets, which listed up to 10-billion non-existent euros in the group’s accounts.
The judge has also accused the auditors of suggesting ways for the company to commit fraud.
Grant Thornton, which audited Parmalat’s accounts between 1990 and 1999, has previously denied its staff’s criminal involvement, saying they were victims not authors of the fraud. A spokesperson for Grant Thornton International told Reuters news agency yesterday that the company was ”trying to ascertain the facts”.
Parmalat’s former chief financial officer Fausto Tonna, a leading former financial official, Luciano Del Soldato and two accountants, Gianfranco Bocchi and Claudio Pessina, were also among those arrested.
Meanwhile 65 year-old Mr Tanzi, who admitted on Monday to diverting â,¬500-million from the company and being aware that another â,¬8-billion had gone missing, was described by his lawyer as a ”broken man”.
”He is convinced that Parmalat should and must be saved,” his lawyer Fabio Belloni said as he entered Milan’s courthouse.
According to Belloni, none of the diverted funds went directly into Mr Tanzi’s pocket but were used to try to shore up struggling companies within the group.
”It was an attempt to keep going forward, to close certain deals, and give the push to earn in a little way. That’s the argument,” Belloni said. ”The little treasures (or perks) were never there,” the lawyer said.
No charges have yet been made against Tanzi or other suspects, but a Milan judge has refused to release the fallen icon of Italian industry from jail, suspecting he could attempt to destroy evidence and describing him as ”dangerous for society”.
Italian newspapers this week have said Parmalat, which employs 35 000 staff and which was declared in crisis before Christmas, might now turn to banks for up to â,¬100-million to help keep the company in business.
EU regulators said yesterday that they were studying an emergency decree passed by the Italian cabinet designed to help Parmalat solve its problems.
The European Commission said it would ensure that the measure fits with competition rules designed to prevent state bail-outs that distort competition. – Guardian Unlimited Â