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subject Judge Ready to Start Parmalat Hearings
By William Schomberg MILAN (Reuters) - Ten months after the Parmalat scandal rocked the global finance industry, a judge next week begins deciding whether to put on trial executives, bankers and auditors of the dairy group plus three financial institutions. Hundreds of investors left holding decimated bonds and worthless shares are also expected at Tuesday's hearing in Milan's central courtrooms to press their claims, and television screens will beam the proceedings to those locked out. Inside, prosecutors will lay out their case for putting in the dock the 32 accused, including the Italian offices of Bank of America and of auditors Deloitte & Touche, and the former Italian affiliate of auditing firm Grant Thornton. The prosecutors say Parmalat's founder Calisto Tanzi, other former executives and directors, three ex-Bank of America staff and the auditors masked the multinational's true finances until it collapsed under 14 billion euros ($17.38 billion) of debt. In the 35 years I have been a lawyer, I have never seen anything as shocking at the Parmalat case, said Marco de Luca, a lawyer representing the group's insolvency administrators. Bank of America has said the legal action against it is unfounded. Deloitte Touche has said it met auditing standards when it signed off on Parmalat's books. And the former Grant Thornton unit has denied wrongdoing. But Tanzi, former Finance Director Fausto Tonna and other executives have already admitted to investigators they committed fraud, using a web of offshore holding companies and fictitious revenues to keep Parmalat's losses secret for a decade. Legal sources said lawyers for Tonna, another former CFO Luciano Del Soldato and Tanzi's son Stefano, have discussed with prosecutors the possibility of immediate sentencing, giving them less time in jail than at the end of a lengthy trial. A lawyer for two former Grant Thornton auditors has said he will ask for an immediate trial, skipping the preliminary hearing phase which on its own is likely to last months. SENTENCES LIKELY TO BE SERVED In Italy, the offence of market-rigging, the main charge against the 32 accused, carries a basic jail sentence of up to five years which can be increased if counts are multiple. Actually sending people to prison in Italy is complicated by the long appeals process. Few served time after the 1990s Clean Hands corruption investigation that toppled a government. Continued ...
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