Parmalat fraud probe widens
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Parmalat's founder Calisto Tanzi has been orderd to remain in jail.
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Italian police detained the founder of scandal-struck Parmalat.
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(CNN) -- Prosecutors are expected to question former financial officers and auditors of Parmalat as they widen their probe into a multi-billion-euro fraud at the troubled Italian food giant.
Magistrates in Milan and Parma on Friday will grill Fausto Tonna and Luciano Del Soldato, as well as Gianpaolo Zini, lawyer for Parmalat's disgraced chief Calisto Tanzi, according to news reports.
Lorenzo Penca, ex-head of auditors Grant Thornton Spa, will also be questioned, a legal source told Reuters.
All four were arrested on Wednesday along with three others who are also likely to be questioned in what is emerging as one of the world's biggest corporate scandals.
The insolvent company, based near Parma in central Italy, has been put under the management of turnaround expert Enrico Bondi.
Prosecutors believe Tanzi falsified Parmalat accounts and embezzled more than 800 million euros, leaving the company with debts of between 10 billion and 13 billion euros ($16.21 billion).
Tanzi was detained last weekend in Milan and has since told investigators that about eight billion euros could be missing from the company's accounts.
He has also admitted siphoning off some 500 million euros from the publicly-quoted company to Tanzi-family firms. (Parmalat chief 'a broken man')
On Tuesday, a judge ordered Tanzi to remain in jail pending formal charges relating to market rigging, fraudulent bankruptcy and making false statements to auditors. (Full story)
Parmalat filed for bankruptcy protection after it revealed that an account at Bank of America was not holding about $4.9 billion of its funds, as the company had reported in September.
The company entered into insolvency status Saturday -- which allows it to pay any new debts rather than having to deal with outstanding creditors, thereby allowing it to keep operating.
The Italian stock market has suspended trading of Parmalat shares, and the government has organized a recovery plan that will go into effect in the next six months.
Parmalat, which has annual sales of around $9.2 billion, produces and sells milk, yogurt, juice and other food products in Europe, the United States and around the world. The company employs 35,000 people in 30 countries.
Shares in the company, which have plummeted 90 percent since the company acknowledged it had misrepresented its financial position earlier this month, were suspended indefinitely by the Italian Stock Exchange late Sunday. Parmalat shares last traded at $0.13.
