Edition: U.S. / Global

Court Rejects Italy's Bid for Parmalat Documents

Published: April 26, 2004

Switzerland's highest court has rejected a request by Italy for access to bank accounts that were frozen in an inquiry into a reported multibillion-dollar fraud at the Parmalat dairy empire.

The public prosecutor in Parma, the city in northern Italy where bankrupt Parmalat has its headquarters, had requested access to documents concerning the bank accounts.

In a decision made public on Saturday, the court, the Federal Tribunal, ruled that unlimited access was unreasonable, and that only the Swiss federal public ministry was competent to judge the Italian request.

Magistrates and police on each side of the border have been cooperating closely to track fraudulent activities and hidden financial affairs of the Parmalat conglomerate, which collapsed in December when shortfalls of more than 14.2 billion euros ($16.8 billion) in its accounts began to emerge.

Switzerland, where the group has two subsidiaries, froze Parmalat deposits in January and again in March, after it began investigations into dealings and possible money laundering by former Parmalat executives.

Switzerland is widely regarded as a financial haven because of its strict banking secrecy laws. But secrecy provisions are lifted in criminal investigations, including those involving suspected money laundering or fraud.