BoA: No $7.7bn Parmalat fund
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It was Bank of America who first revealed Parmalat's "black hole."
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LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Bank of America said on Tuesday that an account apparently containing $7.7 billion of Parmalat funds never existed.
Earlier this month, Carlo Zauli, a lawyer for a group of Parmalat creditors, said he had traced about $7.7 billion of Parmalat's funds to a Bank of America branch in New York, but had no documented proof.
"We have completed our system-wide search of deposit accounts and that account does not exist and never existed at Bank of America," a Bank of America spokeswoman said in London.
Italian dairy company Parmalat was declared insolvent last month and filed for bankruptcy protection. Parmalat's simmering financial scandal erupted when Bank of America rejected a document showing that a Parmalat subsidiary had four billion euros in an account at the bank.
Investigators have arrested 10 people, including Parmalat's founder Calisto Tanzi. No charges have been brought so far.
Last Friday, Zauli had said he was able to provide the number of an account at a Bank of America branch in New York where, he said, Parmalat had deposited seven billion euros ($8.72 billion) worth of U.S. government bonds.
Bank of America had already told Parmalat's administrator Enrico Bondi it had begun an internal investigation into these claims and denied the existence of the account.
Parmalat had said earlier in January that it was not aware of these funds.
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