Judiciary 'expropriated ILVA' says Squinzi - update 2

(ANSA) - Milan, May 21 - Confindustria industrialists' association chief Giorgio Squinzi said Thursday the judiciary "expropriated" bankrupt ILVA steelmaker, which is being run by a government-appointed commissioner.
    In January, a court declared ILVA insolvent, with debt totalling nearly three billion euros.
    "The judiciary has expropriated a company without consulting its owners or allowing them to intervene in any way," Squinzi said. A Milan magistrate has released 1.2 billion euros seized from the Riva family, owners of the controversial ILVA plant in the southern city of Taranto.
    The amount is to be used by the government-appointed special commissioner for ILVA to underwrite bonds that will then be used to finance environmental clean-up programs.
    The company has been mired in controversy over years of pollution by Europe's largest steel plant.
    ILVA has employed some 20,000 people and been blamed for decades of environmental degradation and high levels of cancer in the area.