Italy’s top appeals court cancelled jail sentences
against prominent bankers Cesare Geronzi and Matteo Arpe on Friday an ordered new trials for the men.
It’s the latest development in the 2003 bankruptcy of
Parmalat, a global dairy business with significant operations in Canada.
While the main business went bankrupt, the Canadian
operations were able to survive and continue.
The Court of Cassation quashed the sentences handed down
by a lower court in 2013 and ruled that the two former bosses at Banca di Roma
will have to stand trial for a second time, according to a copy of the sentence
seen by Reuters news agency.
In June 2013 the appeals court of Bologna had sentenced
Banca di Roma Chairman Geronzi to five years in jail and given a
three-year-and-seven-month sentence to Arpe, the former chief executive.
The pair were convicted on charges of fraudulent
bankruptcy in connection with the sale of mineral water company Ciappazzi to
Parmalat in 2002. Neither has served any time in jail, as the legal process has
dragged on for years.
Prosecutors said that, in return for a loan, Banca di
Roma put pressure on Parmalat to buy Ciappazzi above the market price to help
another of the bank’s clients.
A year later, Parmalat collapsed with a 14 billion-euro
(US$17.2 billion) hole in its accounts, wiping out the savings of over 100,000
small investors. Several trials related to the collapse of the dairy group, now
owned by France’s Lactalis, are under way.
