Among them are two former presidents of MPS, Alessandro Profumo and Massimo Tononi, current president of Banco BPM.
The Milan public prosecutor’s office on Friday requested the dismissal of four former managers of the Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), as part of an investigation into the accounting for impairment of bad debts.
Among them are two former presidents of MPS, Alessandro Profumo and Massimo Tononi. Mr. Profumo is currently boss of Leonardo, an Italian aeronautics and defense giant, while Mr. Tononi is chairman of Banco BPM.
The others implicated are Fabrizio Viola, former general manager of Monte dei Paschi, and Arturo Betunio, who at the time was in charge of drafting the bank’s accounting documents.
The prosecution is requesting the opening of a trial once morest these leaders, suspected of false corporate communication and market manipulation.
The investigation relates to the recording of impairments of bad debts in the financial accounts from 2014 to 2016.
Alessandro Profumo was sentenced in October 2020 to six years in prison for price manipulation and false communication, for other acts of which he was accused when he was president of MPS.
The case concerned the alleged incorrect accounting of derivatives in the financial results of the first half of 2015.
This conviction at first instance had no repercussions on his position at Leonardo, the judgment not being final.
Fabrizio Viola had been sentenced to the same prison term as Mr. Profumo in this case. The two men had decided to appeal and remain free, pending a new trial.
Last May, the Milan Court of Appeal acquitted thirteen former managers or employees of MPS and two banks, the German Deutsche Bank and the Japanese Nomura, of the accusation of dubious financial operations aimed at covering losses of the bank of Siena.