Market-Rigging: Former central bank governor sentenced

MILAN: An Italian court sentenced Italy’s former central bank governor Antonio Fazio on Saturday to four years in jail for market-rigging related to a 2005 takeover battle over Italian bank Banca Antonveneta. A Milan court has also ordered Fazio — who headed the Bank of Italy from 1993 to 2005 — to pay a 1.5 million euro ($2.14 million) fine for his role in the takeover saga pitting Dutch Bank ABN AMRO against Italy’s Banca Popolare Italiana (BPI). Fazio’s lawyer called the sentence “unjust” and said he would file an appeal, the Ansa news agency said. Fazio was forced to resign in December 2005 amid allegations that he backed the domestic bid by BPI — now part of Italy’s Banco Popolare.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2011.