Italy seizes €1.8bn from Nomura over Monte dei Paschi di Siena fraud probe

 

Judges in Italy have ordered the seizure of more than €1.8bn (£1.53bn) of assets as part of an investigation into suspected fraud against troubled lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.Prosecutors in the city of Siena said most of the assets to be seized were funds held by Banca Nomura International, the Milan branch of Japan's Nomura International.The prosecutors said the Nomura seizure regarded €88m of hidden commissions received by the Japanese bank and €1.7bn of funds deposited with Nomura by Monte Paschi by way of collateral for a loan.Smaller sums, reported to total €14.4m, were to be seized from former Monte Paschi chairman Giuseppe Mussari, ex-managing director Antonio Vigni and the former head of the finance department, Gian Luca Baldassari.The Japanese bank's former CEO Sadeq Sayeed has also been placed under investigation as part of the fraud probe, along with senior Nomura executive, Raffaele Ricci.The prosecutor's statement said Sayeed and Ricci were suspected of "gravely obstructing" the activities of supervisory authorities and putting out "false statements".