All acquitted in the second degree. In the trial on the MPS case, the Milan Court of Appeal acquitted all 16 defendants, from the former MPS president Giuseppe Mussari to the former general manager Antonio Vigni up to the banks: Deutsche Bank, its London branch and Nomura. Also established revocation of confiscations 88 million for Nomura and 64 million for Deutsche Bank, charged together with the London Branch, and all the ancillary penalties. For some charges the acquittal came because "the fact does not exist", while for other episodes, prior to August 2011, the non-suit was declared as prescribed.
MPS trial: the sentence of the Milan Court of Appeal
So the judges have overturned the ruling of the first instance court who had sentenced Mussari to 7 years and six months (on appeal the prosecutor had asked to confirm the sentence with a reduction of the sentence to 6 years and 4 months due to the statute of limitations of some episodes), the former general manager Vigni 7 years and 3 months, while 5 years and 3 months and 4 years and 8 months of sentences had been inflicted respectively on the former financial director Daniele Pirondini and the former finance area manager Gian Luca Baldassarri. Together with the former top management, all the other defendants in the trial and also the banks involved were convicted. Deutsche Bank AG, its London branch and Nomura, charged as a company under the law on the administrative liability of entities, had been sentenced in the first instance to very heavy pecuniary penalties: in addition to the confiscations, a 3 million euro fine had been imposed on the German bank, 540 thousand euros to the second.
The process concerns alleged irregularities in structured finance transactions, Alexandria and Santorini, Chianti Classico and Fresh, carried out by Rocca Salimbeni between 2008 and 2012. According to the indictment, these operations would have served MPS to hide a budget "gap" of 2 billion euros, deriving from theacquisition of Antonveneta, paid 9 billion euros. The alleged crimes against all the defendants in the trial are, for various reasons, market manipulation, false accounting, false accounting and obstruction of the supervisory authority. But the examination of the papers led the Court of Appeal to make more weighted assessments than in the first degree of judgment and to deny the guilty narrative that had been investing the former top management of Monte dei Paschi for 10 years.
"Finally, justice has been done", commented the lawyer Francesco Centonze, who with his colleague Carla Iavarone assists the former general manager of Mps Antonio Vigni. All the lawyers in the courtroom embraced each other, some were moved and expressed their "satisfaction" with the reporters. “The judges were brave,” said the lawyer Francesco Isolabella.
MPS accounts
Shortly before the arrival of the sentence, the MPS board of directors approved the accounts for the first quarter, which closed with a profit of 10 million which compares with that of 119 million in the first quarter of last year. The figure is below the expectations of Mediobanca Securities, but above the consensus of the analysts consulted by Bloomberg who forecast a loss of 1,8 million. Revenues were also down, down to 783 million (-4,6%) while the interest margin grew by over 15% due to the positive effects linked to the Tltro auctions.
The company also announced that on 23 June he will present the new plan. "I hope that the new MPS business plan will be perceived correctly by the ECB, at the moment I cannot say that everything will be finalized but we expect it to reflect the indications of the ECB", stated CEO Lovaglio during the conference call with the analysts, adding that "a dialogue that I would define as constructive is underway with the European Central Bank: the plan already seems to be in line with expectations".
Within the plan there will also be an update on disputes. "We have some of the best lawyers who are dealing with these aspects of the bank, it is obvious that this is a critical area and therefore we must be very clear with the market on our approach", underlined the CEO.
