Milan - Judges in Milan have indicted four of the world's
leading banks on charges of market rigging over their role in the
collapse of Italian dairy giant Parmalat, the Ansa news agency
reported Wednesday.
A total of 13 executives working for Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank
and Morgan Stanley are also due to appear in court in a trial whose
opening hearing has been set for January 22, 2008.
'The judge has made a debatable interpretation of the law that we
will challenge in court,' said Giuseppe Bana, a defence lawyer
representing the Swiss concern.
The two US banks also said they would challenge the decision.
In a statement, Morgan Stanley said 'a thorough review of its
Parmalat operations' had shown that it had not been made aware of the
company's insolvency and that the conduct of the bank and its
employees was 'correct.'
A household name in Italy, Parmalat collapsed in December 2003
under the weight of a debt mountain estimated at 14 billion euros
(16.7 billion dollars).
The dairy giant folded shortly after admitting that a 4-billion-
euro account held by one of its subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands
did not exist.
The bankruptcy, described as Europe's biggest, stripped of their
savings tens of thousands of people who had invested in Parmalat
bonds and shares.
Founder Calisto Tanzi and 15 others, including auditors, risk
heavy prison sentences in a separate trial currently underway in
Milan.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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