Italy prosecutors request acquittal for former Monte Paschi executives in derivative trial

MILAN (Reuters) – Milan prosecutors requested on Tuesday the acquittal of three former executives of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in a long-running false accounting case.

The case revolves around allegations that ex-chairman Alessandro Profumo, ex-chief executive Fabrizio Viola and ex-president of the supervisory board Carlo Salvadori did not correctly book two derivative transactions – known as Alexandria and Santorini – between 2012 and 2015.

Milan prosecutors had already asked a judge to drop the case against the three men, saying they had followed the regulators’ accounting guidelines. However, the judge had rejected the request and sent them to trial in April 2018.

In a linked trial, a separate Milan court in November convicted 13 former bankers from Deutsche Bank , Nomura and Monte dei Paschi di Siena over the derivative deals, which prosecutors said helped the Tuscan bank hide losses, in one of Italy’s biggest financial scandals.

The lawyers for the three defendents declined to comment.

(Reporting by Alfredo Faieta, writing by Emilio Parodi; Editing by Gareth Jones)