After the hearing on the Veneto banks, today, 14 November, it is the turn of Monte dei Paschi. Banking Commission of Inquiry chaired by Pierferdinando Casini listened to the deputy public prosecutor of Milan, Giordano Baggio and the prosecutor Stefano Civardi, the two magistrates who have been investigating the Sienese bank since the now distant 2011.
Many issues were dealt with during the hearing and many ideas of a judicial and financial nature emerged during the session. Meanwhile in Piazza Affari the Mps stock travels down once again, yielding 2,9% at 3,804 euros.
The ROLE OF MPS MANAGERS
Based on what Baggio said before the commission, during the investigations by the Milan and Siena prosecutors, it would have emerged that some managers of the old management had operated “an impressive shield of sums of money”,
In detail, the Enigma broker, in agreement with the executives "had opened a series of current accounts in offshore jurisdictions, managed through San Marino and landed in Singapore banks". Among all, the name of the former head of the Finance area of Mps emerged, Gianluca Baldassarri who would have "shielded sums of 17,8 million euros".
However, attention was also focused on the so-called new management. At this juncture, the opinion of the magistrates is very clear: the positions of Alessandro Profumo and Fabrizio Viola, are not comparable with those of their predecessors. "We deal with criminal law and I cannot agree with your statement" said Baggio in reply to Carlo Sibilia (M5S) according to which the work of the new managers would have been even more "serious" than that of the old one who had withheld information, putting in place a conduct "to the maximum of fraudulence". The Public Prosecutor explained that: "When the new managers go, in an unusual way, to bring out hidden losses of 700 million and when accounting for the operation in the financial statements, they take a position, perhaps reprehensible, but open and clear and where the supervisory authorities at the time in March 2013 on the basis of the document platform give a judgment of document complexity us how can we think of holding a trial and giving sentences?”. In fact, we recall that Baggio and Civardi had requested the dismissal for Profumo and Viola of the accounting of Alexandria in the financial statements but the Milan magistrate decided the indictment anyway and the process is underway.
THE ROLE OF BANKITALIA AND THE PURCHASE OF ANTONVENETA
"That there were several things that were wrong reading Bank of Italy's inspections was more evident than ever", declared the prosecutor Civardi answering a question on the purchase of Antonveneta".
The prosecutor also underlined that "the supervisory authority had launched many warnings on the capitalization preparatory to the purchase of Antonveneta" in 2008.
The chapter "Antonveneta" he also addressed the issue of the alleged 9 billion bribe paid nine years ago for the purchase of the bank. The so-called "cue", the magistrates reiterated, was never found despite the investigations carried out by the Siena prosecutor's office and then passed, from 2014, to that of Milan. "Corruption between private individuals remains a crime upon complaint by one party and is prescribed in six years - underlines Stefano Civardi - and in the summer of 2014 it could not have been a subject of investigation".
However, Baggio reiterated that for the purchase of the bank "it was not possible for MPS to carry out a complete due diligence, a bank was bought sight unseen, it was an unfortunate decision,” also specifying that many operations carried out to hide losses, "were made before and not after".
THE ROLE OF DERIVATIVES
The Monte dei Paschi crisis was not caused by the restructuring of the by now well-known derivatives, Alexandria and Santorini, but has a much deeper structural basis.
“The MPS crisis – said Civardi – must be framed in a systemic crisis: Mps had many government bonds, a double share compared to other banks and it is clear that when the sovereign debt problem broke out at the end of 2010, it suffered more than the others. NPLs are another important chapter in the Monte crisis: when a system is in crisis, the subjects I financed no longer pay me back. So there are clearly structural causes that have nothing to do with Santorini and Alexandria”.
Speaking of Alexandria Baggio also revealed that a consultant to the public prosecutor hypothesized the link between the restructuring of the derivative and the asset swap on the 2034 Btp made by Monte dei Paschi with Nomura already in 2012 and therefore before the mandate agreement was discovered in the safe of the bank by the new management.
Having hidden the mandate is precisely the reason why the old leaders were convicted in the first instance for obstructing supervision.
THE NEXT STEPS
The commission of inquiry into the banks has decided to shorten the time in order to audit the president of Consob Giuseppe Vegas and the Governor of the Bank of Italy Ignazio Visco "before Christmas". Hearings doubled: there will be four hearings
Based on this week. During the next hearing, again on Monte dei Paschi, the Sienese magistrates will be heard. The Commission is now contacting the Tuscan prosecutor's office to have the magistrates available as early as this Thursday ”.
