ITALY: AS INVESTIGATIONS ON PARMALAT CONTINUE THE GROUP'S NEW CEO ENRICO BONDI MEETS WITH GOVERNMENT MEMBERS
Record ID:
646844
ITALY: AS INVESTIGATIONS ON PARMALAT CONTINUE THE GROUP'S NEW CEO ENRICO BONDI MEETS WITH GOVERNMENT MEMBERS
- Title: ITALY: AS INVESTIGATIONS ON PARMALAT CONTINUE THE GROUP'S NEW CEO ENRICO BONDI MEETS WITH GOVERNMENT MEMBERS
- Date: 14th January 2004
- Summary: (EU) ROME, ITALY (JANUARY 12, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF AGRICULTURE MINISTRY; SLV PRESS AND SECURITY (4 SHOTS) 0.26 2. MV PARMALATS NEW CEO, ENRICO BONDI, ENTERING BUILDING FOLLOWED BY THE PRESS; MV AGRICULTURE MINISTER, GIANNI ALEMANNO SPEAKING TO THE PRESS; SCU SECURITY 1.03 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ALEMANNO SAYING: "To say that (Bondi) was optimistic is a bit too strong. He appeared determined and confident that he'll carry out his task. He said that if there are difficoulties they will be announced. But he looked determined and confident" 1.24 4. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ALEMANNO SAYING APPROXIMATELY: "Being legally unable to pay its past duties, Parmalat will be put in a condition to pay in cash its current supplies. So starting this week farmers will be paid what they are owed" 1.54 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ALEMANNO SAYING: "In reference to the industrial plan, Bondi assured me that everything will be done very quickly. Long periods of time don't help a situation like this, so we're accelerating everything even beyond what the latest government decrees (on saving bankrupt firms) allow" 2.19 6. MV ALEMANNO LEAVING AFTER NEWS CONFERENCE 2.28 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 29th January 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ROME, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVA57XSR33FQ95RMNS1MB4SBVBRP
- Story Text: As investigations on Parmalat continue, the group's
new CEO, Enrico bondi met government members in Rome to
discuss rescue moves.
Parmalat's new CEO, Enrico Bondi, met Italy's agriculture minister
Gianni Alemanno for just unders an hour in Rome on Monday (January 12).
"To say that (Bondi) was optimistic is a bit too strong. He appeared
determined and confident that he'll carry out his task", Alemanno said after
the meeting.
"He said that if there are difficoulties they will be announced. But he
looked determined and confident", Alemanno added.
Alemanno wanted to reassure Parmalat's suppliers, mostly farmers, that the
goverment was making every effort to put the group in a position to pay them,
at least in part, in spite of the crisis.
"Being legally unable to pay its past duties, Parmalat will be put in a
condition to pay in cash its current supplies. So starting this week farmers
will be paid what they are owed", he said.
Alemanno also stressed that Parmalat's industrial plan was being readied by
Bondi and the group's new administrators as quickly as possible.
"Long periods of time don't help a situation like this, so we're
accelerating everything even beyond what the latest government decrees (on
saving bankrupt firms) allow", he said.
Meanwhile, investigations on Parmalat's massive accounting scandal
continued on Monday, putting Italian banks under the spotlight.
Prosecutors said that Capitalia, the Italian bank with the largest exposure
to the food multitnational, could be missing more than 10 billion euros from
its accounts.
Parmalat's founder Calisto Tanzi once sat on Capitalia's board and his ties
to the bank's chairman Cesare Geronzi have added to worries for Geronzi, who is
already under investigation over the collapse of another food group, Cirio, in
2002.
Tanzi is among nine arrested in what U.S. regulators have called one of the
world's biggest corporate fraud scandals.
Newspapers have said Geronzi and Corrado Passera, the chief executive of
Banca Intesa -- Italy's biggest bank by assets -- might be called before
prosecutors this week.
There was no confirmation from prosecutors or the banks of the reports,
published on Sunday and Monday.
On Tuesday, prosecutors were due to resume questioning ex-CFO Tonna who
they accuse of helping mastermind a web of offshore companies and forged
documentation.
On Wednesday, a parliamentary inquiry was expected to hold its first
important hearing with Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti due to take the chair.
He has called for a new super authority to concentrate regulatory duties, a
proposal that would strip powers from the powerful Bank of Italy.
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