Investigators Target Founder's Family

The son, daughter and brother of Calisto Tanzi, Parmalat's disgraced founder, were arrested yesterday by investigators probing the fraud at the bankrupt food company.

Stefano, Francesca and Giovanni Tanzi, suspected of fraudulent bankruptcy and criminal association, were arrested at their respective homes in Parma.

Five others who have worked for the Tanzi empire were also arrested in different northern Italian towns. Fifteen people are now behind bars and three others are under house arrest.

Calisto Tanzi is suspected of running a fraud operation involving an international web of book fiddling and bribery of Italian tax police and politicians over more than a decade.

Stefano and Giovanni Tanzi, son and younger brother of the jailed founder, had both sat on the board of the company.

Francesca, 36, the daughter, held an executive position in the family's tourism business, Parmatour. Stefano, 35, resigned as president of Parma Calcio, owned by Parmalat, in January as the scale of the fraud emerged. He had been on the board of 10 Parmalat subsidiaries including Eurolat, where a €4bn (£2.7bn) black hole was discovered in December, triggering the scandal. Investigators have since discovered that Parmalat owes €14bn.

Calisto Tanzi has denied having siphoned the money for his or his family's personal benefit. But investigators suspect €900m was personally diverted by the Tanzi family, of which €400m went to the family's tourism enterprises.

Both Stefano and Francesca have previously claimed they knew nothing about the fraud in the family business. Francesca has claimed not to have been involved in the financial side of the family's sprawling tourism business. But Fausto Tonna, the jailed Parmalat financial executive, has suggested she was driving the business.

The assets of Parmalat's UK dairy processing business have been bought from administration for an undisclosed sum by Northern Ireland's Dale Farm.