Tragedy or farce?

Corporate Europe has been gripped by a scandal that has led to the downfall of one of Italy’s largest and most established companies – dairy producer Parmalat. Bondholders don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the size of the fraud. Oliver Holtaway reports

From the catalog of deceit and trickery that has come to light following Parmalat’s amazing fall from grace, nothing encapsulates the final, desparate outcome better than the story of Antonio Ugolotti. As the loss-hiding machinations of Parmalat top brass reached ever more absurd levels, executives appointed Ugolotti – the switchboard operator at Parmalat headquarters – as chief executive of up to 30 Parmalat subsidiaries, all without his knowledge. Ugolotti continued to go about his daily