According to the 69-page Complaint filed yesterday in the SDNY by the Southern Alaska Carpenters Pension Fund, through Milberg Weiss (Calif.), the developing scandal concerning Parmalat Finanziaria, SpA is "the most shocking corporate financial fraud in history." Complaint at para. 85.

The events unfolding in Italy have already been fascinating to watch. Calisto Tanzi, Parmalat's founder and chairman, was summarily thrown in prison, albeit one with "his own shower and a little camping stove to cook food" according to this article.

Yesterday, the Financial Times reported that Italian investigative magistrates are considering some kind of "direct confrontation" between key witnesses in the event that their stories conflict. According to the article,

Investigative magistrates are threatening to stage a direct confrontation between two of the alleged masterminds behind the Parmalat scandal this week in an attempt to trace €10bn ($12.6bn) estimated to have disappeared from the bankrupt dairy group. Investigators in Parma on Monday subjected Fausto Tonna, Parmalat's veteran chief financial officer, to a day-long grilling. They are expected on Tuesday to turn to Gian Paolo Zini, Parmalat's chief legal counsel who helped set up many of the foreign and offshore companies now under scrutiny.

If there are discrepancies between their testimonies, investigative magistrates are expected to organise a direct confrontation between the men. Both were arrested last week.

Mr. Tonna reportedly was not a happy man as he arrived for his interrogation on Monday, telling journalists, "I wish you and your families a slow and painful death."