MILAN (AFP) - Parmalat's administrator Enrico Bondi will claim "very substantial" damages from the failed company's former executives and others in a Milan court hearing on October 5, the lawyer representing Bondi in the hearings said.
Parmalat will ask damages from 32 defendants, arguing that their market rigging actions in 1999-2003 have deteriorated the company's image, contributing to an eight-billion-euro (9.9-billion-dollar) increase in its debt burden, Marco De Luca said at a news conference.
Bondi was named to head Parmalat after the company was placed under special administration in December after running up debts totalling 14.27 billion euros.
Among the 32 defendants are Parmalat's founder Calisto Tanzi, company directors, accountants and auditors; the Bank of America and two external auditors, Deloitte and Touche and Grant Thornton.
The judge at the preliminary hearing is to decide whether there are sufficient grounds for a trial.
"Damages that Bondi is going to ask for are very substantial," said De Luca, without being more specific.
Penalties for market rigging range from one to five years in jail, he said.
De Luca also said that on October 5 he expected hundreds or thousands of people, including bondholders and shareholders, would claim for damages, and warned that this might cause a slowdown in the legal proceedings.