MPS Foundation president questioned in new probe
Mansi not a suspect in insider trading investigation
24 January, 17:11
(ANSA) - Siena, January 24 - The president of the MPS
Foundation linked to troubled Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di
Siena (MPS) was being questioned by police Friday under a new
probe for insider trading and market fixing, sources told ANSA.
Antonella Mansi is not under investigation, and no names of
suspects have been cited.The MPS Foundation controls 33.5% of the bank itself. The latest investigation appears to have been opened after a complaint from Mansi herself to prosecutors and stock-market watchdog Consob. The firm sparked fresh controversy last year when it was accused of misleading Italy's market regulator in October 2012, shortly before it received a 4.1-billion-euro State bailout.
MPS is already at the center of a judicial investigation into its acquisition of smaller rival Antonveneta in 2008, allegedly at a suspiciously low price, as well as up to 750 million euros in secret derivatives trades the bank allegedly used to conceal losses.
Former Chairman Giuseppe Mussari and former director-general Antonio Vigni, who left in early 2012, are both under investigation for market manipulation, making false statements to the market, and regulatory obstruction in relation to the Antonveneta deal and the derivatives trades.
Both deny any wrongdoing.
