BANKITALIA. PROCESSO A FAZIO ED AI FURBETTI DEL QUARTIERINO

Trial resumes for former Bank of Italy head ( International Herald Tribune del 19/11/2008 ) Stampa - Guida MILAN: As head of the Bank of Italy for 12 years, Antonio Fazio helped protect the country's banks from foreign rivals, making him popular among entrenched Italian bankers, but less so at European Union headquarters. Now, two years after his stint at the helm of the central bank ended in scandal, he goes on trial in Milan on Thursday, facing criminal charges of market rigging to achieve his goal of keeping Italian banks in Italian hands. Fazio, 72, worked at the Italian central bank for 45 years and was governor until December 2005, when he stepped down in the face of mounting political pressure from the Italian government and the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union. Fazio had been under attack since the preceding July, when newspapers published the transcripts of phone conversations between him and Gianpiero Fiorani, the chief executive of a bank mired in a controversial takeover battle. The case captivated the Italian public as well as the country's political and economic elite for much of 2005. Fazio had a lifetime appointment as head of the central bank and a personal veto on all bank mergers in Italy, making him more powerful than any of his Western European counterparts. His power remained unfettered until he used it - illegally, prosecutors say - to favor the takeover of Banca Antonveneta by Fiorani's bank, the Banca Popolare di Lodi. At the time, the Dutch bank ABN AMRO was also seeking to buy Banca Antonveneta. After Fazio's resignation, ABN AMRO eventually bought Banca Antonveneta, although the bank was soon under Italian ownership again when it was subsequently sold to Monte dei Paschi di Siena. Today in Business with Reuters Automakers make their case for U.S. help Carmakers in China copy U.S. playbook U.S. lawmakers press for direct aid to homeowners The trial breaks new ground in the realm of Italian finance, experts say. "New territory is being charted here because this is really the first time in Italy that somebody at this high of a level has been charged with something this serious," said Alberto Alessandri, a law and finance professor at Bocconi University, who is representing Popolare di Lodi in the trial. The trial opened in October, but the judge suspended it until Thursday so he could consider a motion by the consumer association Adusbef asking that the central bank and the Italian market regulator pay ¬10 million in damages for their lack of oversight. Fazio could receive a prison term as severe as 12 years if he is convicted of market rigging, although legal experts said a guilty verdict would probably not lead to any actual prison time for him. "The result of the trial will be fair and presumably severe, but the problem is the execution of the penalty," Alessandri said. "He is old, and it is problematic to send somebody of that age to jail in Italy." In a plea bargain, Fiorani collaborated with investigators. But the transcripts of the telephone conversations between the two men seem to pose the most serious challenge to Fazio's defense. "I just put my signature on it," Fazio was recorded as telling Fiorani in July 2005 in a midnight phone conversation regarding the final approval of the takeover of Banca Antonveneta by Banca Popolare di Lodi. Fiorani replied, "I've got goose bumps," and added, "I'd give you a kiss right now, on the forehead." Fazio could not be reached for comment and has not spoken to the news media for three years. Seventeen other people are on trial in connection with Popolare di Lodi's failed assault on Antonveneta, and 58 have reached plea bargains with the court. "Economic crimes like these are extremely complex when you drill down, and it is very difficult to prove guilt even when there is what seems to be irrefutable evidence," said Gabrio Forti, a professor of criminal law and criminology at Università Cattolica in Milan. The trial will probably drag on for at least a year, according to several legal experts. If found guilty, Fazio would have the right to two appeals, so a final verdict could be at least two years away. Though experts agree that Fazio protected Italian banks from takeovers by foreign rivals, the dispute is over whether he used illicit means to achieve his goal. While that gets argued in the courthouse in Milan, financial experts have also begun to consider Fazio's legacy. Is it of the corrupt central banker who favored his friends at the expense of the Italian economic system, or is it of somebody who used all legal means at his disposal to protect Italian banks until they could consolidate and fend for themselves against larger rivals north of the Alps? The trial promises to offer much theater, with the list of witnesses submitted by the public prosecutors including Fazio's successor, Mario Draghi, and Cesare Geronzi, chairman of the investment bank Mediobanca and one of the most powerful figures in Italian finance. 1 | 2 Next Page MILAN: As head of the Bank of Italy for 12 years, Antonio Fazio helped protect the country's banks from foreign rivals, making him popular among entrenched Italian bankers, but less so at European Union headquarters. Now, two years after his stint at the helm of the central bank ended in scandal, he goes on trial in Milan on Thursday, facing criminal charges of market rigging to achieve his goal of keeping Italian banks in Italian hands. Fazio, 72, worked at the Italian central bank for 45 years and was governor until December 2005, when he stepped down in the face of mounting political pressure from the Italian government and the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union. Fazio had been under attack since the preceding July, when newspapers published the transcripts of phone conversations between him and Gianpiero Fiorani, the chief executive of a bank mired in a controversial takeover battle. The case captivated the Italian public as well as the country's political and economic elite for much of 2005. Fazio had a lifetime appointment as head of the central bank and a personal veto on all bank mergers in Italy, making him more powerful than any of his Western European counterparts. His power remained unfettered until he used it - illegally, prosecutors say - to favor the takeover of Banca Antonveneta by Fiorani's bank, the Banca Popolare di Lodi. At the time, the Dutch bank ABN AMRO was also seeking to buy Banca Antonveneta. After Fazio's resignation, ABN AMRO eventually bought Banca Antonveneta, although the bank was soon under Italian ownership again when it was subsequently sold to Monte dei Paschi di Siena. Today in Business with Reuters Automakers make their case for U.S. help Carmakers in China copy U.S. playbook U.S. lawmakers press for direct aid to homeowners The trial breaks new ground in the realm of Italian finance, experts say. "New territory is being charted here because this is really the first time in Italy that somebody at this high of a level has been charged with something this serious," said Alberto Alessandri, a law and finance professor at Bocconi University, who is representing Popolare di Lodi in the trial. The trial opened in October, but the judge suspended it until Thursday so he could consider a motion by the consumer association Adusbef asking that the central bank and the Italian market regulator pay ¬10 million in damages for their lack of oversight. Fazio could receive a prison term as severe as 12 years if he is convicted of market rigging, although legal experts said a guilty verdict would probably not lead to any actual prison time for him. "The result of the trial will be fair and presumably severe, but the problem is the execution of the penalty," Alessandri said. "He is old, and it is problematic to send somebody of that age to jail in Italy." In a plea bargain, Fiorani collaborated with investigators. But the transcripts of the telephone conversations between the two men seem to pose the most serious challenge to Fazio's defense. "I just put my signature on it," Fazio was recorded as telling Fiorani in July 2005 in a midnight phone conversation regarding the final approval of the takeover of Banca Antonveneta by Banca Popolare di Lodi. Fiorani replied, "I've got goose bumps," and added, "I'd give you a kiss right now, on the forehead." Fazio could not be reached for comment and has not spoken to the news media for three years. Seventeen other people are on trial in connection with Popolare di Lodi's failed assault on Antonveneta, and 58 have reached plea bargains with the court. "Economic crimes like these are extremely complex when you drill down, and it is very difficult to prove guilt even when there is what seems to be irrefutable evidence," said Gabrio Forti, a professor of criminal law and criminology at Università Cattolica in Milan. The trial will probably drag on for at least a year, according to several legal experts. If found guilty, Fazio would have the right to two appeals, so a final verdict could be at least two years away. Though experts agree that Fazio protected Italian banks from takeovers by foreign rivals, the dispute is over whether he used illicit means to achieve his goal. While that gets argued in the courthouse in Milan, financial experts have also begun to consider Fazio's legacy. Is it of the corrupt central banker who favored his friends at the expense of the Italian economic system, or is it of somebody who used all legal means at his disposal to protect Italian banks until they could consolidate and fend for themselves against larger rivals north of the Alps? The trial promises to offer much theater, with the list of witnesses submitted by the public prosecutors including Fazio's successor, Mario Draghi, and Cesare Geronzi, chairman of the investment bank Mediobanca and one of the most powerful figures in Italian finance. 1 | 2 Next Page ( International Herald Tribune del 19/11/2008 )

19/11/2008

Documento n.7603