Sergio Cragnotti, former owner of
the Cirio food giant, was facing new legal woes Tuesday as a
magistrate ordered a September trial into allegations of
fraudulent bankruptcy.
It is allegedly that about 31 million euros went missing
during the bankruptcy of Cirio subsidiary CisimFood, which ran
catering operations at Rome's two airports.
However, the preliminary hearing judge decided against
proceeding against Cragnotti's son Andrea, who was a director of
the catering company.
Last Friday, an appeal court upheld sentences against the
main defendants in the bankruptcy of another Cirio subsidiary,
including a four-year prison term for former Banca di Roma
official Cesare Geronzi.
At that time, Cragnotti's sentence was trimmed by only four
months leaving the former Lazio soccer club owner with a prison
sentence of eight years plus eight months.
The Rome appeal court judges cut the sentence against
Andrea Cragnotti to a term of two years and four months while
his siblings Elisabetta and Massimo were absolved because of the
statute of limitations.
In Italy, prison terms do not usually take effect until the
appeals process is exhausted, with two appeals granted in each
case.
Unicredit, one of Italy's largest banks, later took over
Banca di Roma and was fined 200 million euros for Banca di
Roma's role in the Cirio bankruptcy.
Founded in the mid-19th century, Cirio was Italy's oldest
food canner.
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