Parmalat financial scandal engulfs Italian travel firm

A manager from Italian travel company Parmatour faced public prosecutors in Parma on Thursday to find out just how big the company’s financial black hole – which some reports have claimed could be as high as 2.5billion euros – really is. The investigations form part of the hearing into the collapse of food group Parmalat, also owned by the family of Calisto Tanzi. Mr Tanzi has already admitted taking 500million euros from Parmalat to fund Parmatour, but according to former chief financial officer Fauso Tonna this is not the full story. Parmatour itself denies any wrongdoing. It announced yesterday that its lawyers have been given “ample mandate” to take legal action against the “leading newspapers which have recently published sensationalist news which was without foundation”. Parmatour says it remains “operative” and “strongly focused on its business objectives .” Prosecutors believe that Parmalat hid losses of 10billion euros in a complex financial web.