The crisis at Parmalat deepened yesterday as people familiar with the Italian dairy group estimated its gross debt could be more than €14 billion, while its operating units could be worth only €1 billion-€2 billion.
A month after the company was placed in bankruptcy protection and investigative magistrates, bankers and outside accountants began combing its books around the world, "not a trace" of cash has been found, one person said.
"There's just nothing. Maybe we'll still find a €500 million or €1 billion hoard somewhere, but I doubt it. If there had been that cash, they would have used it to cover things up," another person familiar with the investigation said.
The news came as Mr Stefano Tanzi, the son of Parmalat founder Mr Calisto Tanzi, quit the crisis-hit company's board yesterday and two other family members resigned executive positions and board seats at linked companies.
The company said in a statement that Mr Tanzi quit the board of the group's main holding Parmalat Finanziaria, as well as units in South America, Canada, South Africa and Australia.
Mr Giovanni Tanzi and Mr Paolo Tanzi, two other family members, also resigned from positions at Parmalat-linked companies.
The €14 billion gross debt estimate includes numerous off-balance sheet private placements. It also takes into account transactions where Parmalat created offshore trusts that claimed to be buying bonds but in fact were used to cancel part of the issues.
This week investigative magistrates temporarily released from custody Mr Fausto Tonna, former chief financial officer, and Mr Gianfranco Bocchi, an accountant, to help decipher accounts at headquarters in Collecchio, near Parma.
Mr Tonna had ordered the destruction of computers and their files before investigators arrived a month ago. People familiar with the investigation said the destruction appeared to have continued for several days even after the bankers and magistrates arrived.
Police yesterday searched offices in Milan of US bank Morgan Stanley and fund management firm Nextra, owned by Banca Intesa, as part of a probe into the scandal, a judicial source said.
