Parmalat investigation focuses on paper trail

Italian authorities investigating the collapse of food group Parmalat are hoping that documents seized at the offices of an offshoot based near the group's headquarters may provide some useful information.

After the detention on Wednesday of eight more suspects in one of Europe's biggest financial scandals, investigators are examining computer and paper records seized in a raid at Dpa, a shell company with offices near Parma.

A US Securities and Exchange Commission investigator has arrived in Italy to work alongside Italian prosecutors, fiscal police and Parmalat's government-appointed administrator.

Parmalat's founder Calisto Tanzi stepped down just over two weeks ago after authorities accused him of embezzling more than €800m from his family-controlled food conglomerate over the past decade.

Parmalat until recently was a blue chip on Milan's bourse but its shares are now worth next to nothing and have been suspended from trading indefinitely.