(ANSA) - A storm over Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio's alleged involvement with key players in cross-country banking takeover battles widened on Wednesday as the country's leading daily published fresh leaks of phone tap transcripts.
Amid the furore, the cabinet postponed a decision on the issue pending further information and premier Silvio Berlusconi's presence.
The premier came down with a fever at the weekend and did not attend the meeting, which had been scheduled to discuss the controversy surrounding the takeover bids for Banca Antonveneta and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro.
The battle for control of the two banks has been a matter of front-page headlines in recent weeks after it was alleged that Fazio worked behind the scenes to help Italian banks against their foreign rivals.
In a strange twist to the affair, the papers began publishing leaks of the transcripts of the phone taps late in July, after Spain's BBVA signalled it was about to back down in its bid for BNL, paving the way for a takeover by Unipol, a small Italian insurance company.
At the same time, Dutch bank ABN Amro also looked ready to give way to its Italian competitor Banca Popolare Italiana, whose CEO Giampiero Fiorani is a close friend of Fazio's. In one of the transcript of phone taps leaked to the press last week, Fiorani said he was "moved" after Fazio told
him he had approved BPI'S bid for Antonveneta.
"I've got goosebumps ... I'd kiss you on the forehead,"Fiorani said.
Amid mounting calls for Fazio's resignation and in a bid to stem further damage, on Saturday the Bank of Italy suspended BPI's bid for Antonveneta. But the new transcripts published by Corriere della Sera on Wednesday fuelled the scandal and prompted the opposition and Falbi, the Bank of Italy's trade union, that the governor step down immediately.
In the page-long transcripts, Fazio's wife Cristina Rosati, tells Fiorani: "Listen, promise me this: until
tomorrow, don't say a word, don't speak to anyone. You're position is rock solid, relax." In the call, Fiorani vents his anger against Italy's Bourse regulator Consob, telling Rosati he's "really fed up" with their interference in BPI's bid.
When she passes the phone to her husband, Fiorani continues to gripe about Consob Chief Lamberto Cardia, asking Fazio if he plans to talk him the following day. "No, no, but I'll handle it," Fazio replies.
According to Milan prosecutor Clementina Forleo, who is investigating possible crimes linked to stake-building in Antonveneta, the transcripts indicate "a total disregard for the rules which are part of a system of controls, of which the Bank of Italy is head."
Corriere's report came a day after Forleo barred Fiorani from acting as BPI's CEO for the next two months.
Economy Minister Domenico Siniscalco warned the cabinet on Wednesday that the issue was "creating a credibility problem for the country" and had already raised alarm among his European Union colleagues. The ministers, however, agreed with Deputy Premier Gianfranco Fini, who stressed that the issue could not be resolved without Berlusconi.
Parliamentary Relations Minister Carlo Giovanardi dismissed opposition calls for Fazio's resignation in the wake of the Corriere report as "irresponsibile." "It seems to me that the only evidence of crime we have so far is that committed by whoever leaked these transcripts to the press.
"It's madness to demand that a government take a decision on the basis of leaks to the press," Giovanardi said.
Fazio, 69, is the only central banker in the Group of Seven nations to have an open-ended mandate. There have been growing demands for a time limit and Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione said the government may move on the request by presenting an amendment to a bill on savings and market regulation reform to be discussed by parliament when it reconvenes in the fall.
