Parmalat founder appears in court

Shielded by a cordon of policemen, Parmalat’s former chairman Calisto Tanzi appeared briefly in a packed courtroom in Milan yesterday as angry investors who lost their savings crowded outside for the opening of a trial into the huge fraud at the dairy empire.

Tanzi, who also founded Parmalat, sat quietly through an hour of the hearing as lawyers representing some of the tens of thousands of investors who lost savings requested that their clients to be listed as civil plaintiffs in the case.