Former president of the Banca di
Roma Cesare Geronzi was cleared Friday of bankruptcy charges
over food giant Cirio's milk unit Eurolat but former Cirio boss
Sergio Cragnotti got five and a half years in jail.
Prosecutors had requested a nine-year prison term for
Geronzi, formerly one of Italy's top financiers.
Geronzi, a former bank executive, had previously received a
four-year jail term for his role in the bankruptcy of Cirio, in
turn linked to the 2003 collapse of the Parmalat dairy giant.
The former Banca di Roma head was also given a five-year
term in 2011 for his role in the closure of former Parmalat
subsidiary Ciappazzi.
Prosecutors had requested a nine-year term for Cragnotti,
former Cirio owner and ex chairman of Laziosoccer team, and a
five-year sentence for lawyer Riccardo Bianchini Riccardi, a
board member, over the affair.
Bianchini Riccardi was cleared, like Geronzi.
In Italy jail 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.
Cirio's collapse was followed by that of Parmalat.
Parmalat went under in December 2003 in a false accounting
scam that resulted in estimated debts of 14.5 billion euros.
The dairy multinational's meltdown left more than 150,000
investors with virtually worthless bonds.
After his arrest at the end of 2004, Parmalat's disgraced
founder and ex-CEO Calisto Tanzi accused Geronzi of "pressuring"
him to buy the Eurolat milk company from Cirio at a price far
above its market value.
Geronzi denied Tanzi's accusations which he said were
"self-serving".
However, the operation raised some eyebrows because
proceeds from the sale were given directly to Banca di Roma,
which not only had lent large sums of capital to Cirio but was
also involved in placing both Parmalat and Cirio bonds with
small investors.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
