Italy to Try Industrialist in Bank Failure

MILAN, Italy — A Milan appeals court Tuesday ordered Italian industrialist Carlo De Benedetti to stand trial on a charge of fraudulent bankruptcy stemming from the 1982 crash of Banco Ambrosiano, Italy’s biggest postwar bank failure.

In April, 1989, lower court judges, after investigating the 1982 collapse of Italy’s largest private bank, indicted 35 people but cleared De Benedetti of any wrongdoing. A prosecutor appealed that decision to the higher court.

No trial date was set.

De Benedetti, head of computer and financial services group Ing C. Olivetti & Co. SpA, reacted angrily to the ruling.

“I am disconcerted at this legal action, which I consider to be extremely unjust, with no legal or factual basis,” De Benedetti said in a statement.

Conviction of involvement in fraudulent bankruptcy carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

De Benedetti was Ambrosiano’s deputy chairman for 65 days but resigned in January, 1982, before it collapsed with $1.3 billion of debts.

“It wasn’t me who chose to leave Banco Ambrosiano,” De Benedetti said in the statement. “I was forced to do so by Mr. (Roberto) Calvi because I openly and strongly contested . . . his methods and his management.”

Calvi, the Ambrosiano chairman, was dubbed “God’s Banker” because of his close Vatican ties. He was found hanging from a bridge over the river Thames in London in June, 1982. Investigators have been divided over whether Calvi was murdered or committed suicide.

The appeals court, in indicting him, rejected the prosecutor’s contention that extortion was involved in the sale of the shares and instead indicted him on the bankruptcy charge.

More than 30 people are already facing charges of fraudulent bankruptcy in connection with the Ambrosiano failure. Among those are Licio Gelli, the former grandmaster of the illegal Masonic lodge Propaganda Due (P2).

The Ambrosiano trial began last May and is expected to last more than a year. It was not immediately clear whether De Benedetti’s case will be incorporated in the current trial or whether a separate trial will be held.

The industrialist received a second blow Tuesday when he lost a skirmish in the long battle to control Italy’s biggest publisher, the Mondadori group.

De Benedetti’s rivals in the 15-month-long battle took a further step toward regaining control of the publisher when they won the chairmanship of Mondadori’s parent firm.