Parmalat boss jailed on $1b fraud charges

PARMALAT Finanziaria SpA founder Calisto Tanzi is being probed for allegedly misappropriating about €800 million ($1 billion) from the company, a person familiar with the investigation said.

Prosecutors in Milan and Parma, where Italy’s biggest food company filed for bankruptcy, are seeking to keep Tanzi, 65, in jail on suspicion of committing fraud, said the person, who asked not to be named. Police arrested Tanzi Saturday evening in Milan and he is being detained in the city’s San Vittore Jail.

A request by prosecutors to keep Tanzi in custody will be reviewed by a Milan magistrate at 4pm. Gian Guido Oliva, a spokesman for Parmalat, declined to comment. “No money disappeared,” Michele Ributti, one of Tanzi’s lawyers, told reporters late yesterday. He didn’t immediately return phone calls seeking comment.