Parmalat's Italian government-appointed administrator, Mr Enrico Bondi, yesterday intensified his fight against the world's largest banks when he sued Deutsche Bank to recover €17 million the German lender ordered Parmalat to repay two weeks before it plunged into bankruptcy.

Parmalat claims the bank dictated to a top executive the exact phrasing of the dairy group's letter announcing its repayment of €17 million in export credits and overdrafts. This was done to hide the origin of the repayment decision, a person familiar with the suit said.

The suit, filed in civil court in Parma, follows a similar filing on Friday seeking €290 million from UBS, and a $10 billion suit filed two weeks ago in New Jersey against Citigroup. Accounting firms Deloitte and Grant Thornton, which recently audited Parmalat's accounts, are also expected to be sued.

The suit against Deutsche Bank seeks only a fraction of the money Mr Bondi is expected to seek from the bank, which was involved in assisting Parmalat in the months before its former executives admitted to massive fraud. Mr Bondi discovered that Parmalat had debt of €14.5 billion and no cash.

Mr Bondi and Italian prosecutors are convinced that Deutsche Bank, along with Banca Intesa, Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, UBS and others were aware of Parmalat's precarious finances before its implosion, but that they continued to finance the company in exchange for high fees.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Citigroup and UBS have rejected Parmalat's claims. Citigroup has said Parmalat "mis-characterised" transactions. Executives at some banks have claimed they would not have kept their exposure to Parmalat had they known of the group's problems.