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Non-Tech : The Enron Scandal - Unmoderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (2866)	12/23/2003 12:21:10 PM
From: The Duke of URL©	Respond to of 3602

Right back atcha.

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (2866)	12/23/2003 1:07:34 PM
From: The Duke of URL©	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3602

Say, does this sound familiar? Prosecutors told Reuters that a scanning machine had been used to forge the Bank of America documents, which were then sent to auditors who certified Bonlat's accounts. Bank of America last week told the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US financial watchdog, that genuine documents authenticating the €3.9bn account did not exist. Bank of America, along with Citigroup and Merrill Lynch worked closely with Parmalat in setting up so-called special purpose vehicles designed to hold assets of Parmalat, a company with a labyrinthine financial structure weighed down with €6bn in debt. One US analyst went so far to describe the company's bonds as "junk bonds [high-risk, high-yield securities] in drag" as far back as two to three years ago. Bank of America also put together a deal under which a group of investors acquired an 18% stake in a Brazilian unit of Parmalat. But that agreement unravelled last week as Parmalat's cash crisis prevented payment of $400m (£226m) to buy the investors out, after it ailed to bring the unit to the stock market. The Parmalat saga has already led to changes to Italy's bankruptcy system. As prosecutors sought to get to the bottom of a scandal that has drawn parallels with the collapse of Enron, the US energy firm, the Italian cabinet rushed through a decree to help companies threatened with bankruptcy. Under the new decree, a commissioner would be appointed guardian.co.uk