Investigative magistrates, seeking the whereabouts of €10 billion that disappeared from Parmalat, yesterday seized documents at Eureka Securitization, a Citigroup unit, and placed under house arrest the wife of the Italian dairy company's long-serving chief financial officer.

Magistrates in Milan took documents from a bank unit that may have been duped into acquiring more than €200 million in false receivables from companies that appear to have been owned by the family of Mr Calisto Tanzi, Parmalat's founder and majority owner. The companies also are believed to have made false billings to Parmalat, allowing Mr Tanzi to siphon off money from the group to the Tanzi family.

Present and former Citigroup executives in Italy are also being questioned over their possible role in the scheme. Citigroup notified magistrates on Monday that it might be a victim of fraud.

In Parma, magistrates placed under house arrest Ms Donatella Alinova, wife of ex-CFO Fausto Tonna, on charges of money laundering. Investigators found €1 million in cheques in two safe deposit boxes drawn from bank accounts suspected of being part of Mr Tonna's efforts to embezzle money.

Mr Tonna was imprisoned in Parma on December 31st. Yesterday, he was interrogated at length by Milan's magistrates, who are seeking to press charges for stock market manipulation by former Parmalat executives.

Although the indictments would be only a small stab at the massive fraud investigators are uncovering, filing charges where possible within the next few weeks would demonstrate that investigators are seeking rapid justice, one person familiar with the investigation said.

The government, meanwhile, promised 1,100 dairy suppliers of Parmalat in southern Italy they would receive payment next week for deliveries made this month. - (Financial Times Service)