Italy was ripe for Parmalat fraud (and the Berlusconi connection)

[burythehatchet]

It is truly remarkable how identical stories play out in different parts of the world. But they are all bound together by one consistent theme: self enrichment at the expense of the working classes.


...While Parmalat trades on the Milan bourse, it, like so many Italian public companies, is private in all but name. The founder, Calisto Tanzi, now 65, surrounded himself with relatives. His brother Giovanni, son Stefan, daughter Francesca and niece Paola Visconti were all either board members, senior executives or both. Incredibly, Consob, the securities regulator, said nothing about the shared DNA at the top.



The most basic corporate governance principles, let alone an Italian version of Sarbanes-Oxley, are alien to the Italian stock markets and the Parmalat scandal is unlikely to change the status quo. How could it not? Because Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister and its most powerful media mogul, has installed several of his own family members in key corporate positions. This is hardly a man who will lobby for the dismantling of family-based capitalism...

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040106/RREGULY06/TPBusiness/TopStories