Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi, at the centre of a massive fraud scandal at the Italian dairy group, has been moved to a Milan hospital from the prison where he has been held since late December, his lawyer says.
"They transferred him yesterday evening," lawyer Fabio Belloni told Reuters on Friday. "He had already spent several days in the medical centre of San Vittore (prison) and he was at serious risk."
Belloni did not elaborate on Tanzi's health. ANSA news agency said Tanzi had suffered "pins and needles" in his arm.
"Certainly Tanzi has suffered and lost weight over the last few days," Belloni said.
After Tanzi, 65, was arrested on December 27 and accused of fraud, his lawyers asked that he be released to house arrest for health reasons. But authorities rejected the request, saying Tanzi might flee or tamper with evidence.
Tanzi, who oversaw the expansion of Parmalat into a globe-spanning multinational from a single milk plant in 1961, has admitted to funnelling 500 million euros out of the company.
Parmalat is now near collapse after the discovery of a major hole in its accounts, which prosecutors say could be bigger than 10 billion euros (7 billion pounds).
Eleven people have been arrested and at least 25 are under investigation in the case, which U.S. regulators have called one of the world's biggest and most brazen fraud scandals.