Italian police find masterpieces
Source: Agencies |
December 7, 2009, Monday
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ITALIAN tax police said on Saturday they had seized works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Cezanne and other giants of art in a crackdown on assets hidden by the disgraced founder of the collapsed dairy company Parmalat.
Authorities estimated the 19 masterpieces stashed away in attics and basements were valued at some 100 million euros (US$150 million).
Parma Prosecutor Gerardo Laguardia said that, based on wiretapped phone conversations, officials believed at least one of the paintings hidden by Calisto Tanzi was about to be sold.
"We got lucky. We learned that there were negotiations under way to sell one of the paintings" and raided three apartments in Parma, near Parmalat's headquarters, Laguardia said.
Bologna-based tax Police Colonel Piero Iovino said investigators believed the entire batch of paintings, watercolors and drawings were up to be sold. The prospective buyer was a Russian, possibly living in Italy, Iovino said.
No arrests were announced as part of the art seizure.
Tax police said Parma prosecutors are opening a probe into alleged concealing of assets in Parmalat's bankruptcy case.
Parmalat, the dairy conglomerate known for its long shelf-life milk grew from a small dairy distributor in Parma, into a diversified, multinational food company by 1990, but collapsed in 2003 under 14 billion euros in debt - eight times what it had previously acknowledged - in what remains Europe's largest corporate bankruptcy.
Italian courts have already ruled that Tanzi bore the brunt of responsibility for the collapse.
Among the masterpieces was a drawing of a ballerina by Degas, two Van Goghs, a watercolor by Cezanne and a pencil-work by Modigliani.
Authorities estimated the 19 masterpieces stashed away in attics and basements were valued at some 100 million euros (US$150 million).
Parma Prosecutor Gerardo Laguardia said that, based on wiretapped phone conversations, officials believed at least one of the paintings hidden by Calisto Tanzi was about to be sold.
"We got lucky. We learned that there were negotiations under way to sell one of the paintings" and raided three apartments in Parma, near Parmalat's headquarters, Laguardia said.
Bologna-based tax Police Colonel Piero Iovino said investigators believed the entire batch of paintings, watercolors and drawings were up to be sold. The prospective buyer was a Russian, possibly living in Italy, Iovino said.
No arrests were announced as part of the art seizure.
Tax police said Parma prosecutors are opening a probe into alleged concealing of assets in Parmalat's bankruptcy case.
Parmalat, the dairy conglomerate known for its long shelf-life milk grew from a small dairy distributor in Parma, into a diversified, multinational food company by 1990, but collapsed in 2003 under 14 billion euros in debt - eight times what it had previously acknowledged - in what remains Europe's largest corporate bankruptcy.
Italian courts have already ruled that Tanzi bore the brunt of responsibility for the collapse.
Among the masterpieces was a drawing of a ballerina by Degas, two Van Goghs, a watercolor by Cezanne and a pencil-work by Modigliani.
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