Spokesman for Italian bank Monte Paschi di Siena found dead

The spokesman of Monte Paschi di Siena, the Italian bank at the centre of an investigation into alleged corruption and fraud, has been found dead at the bank's Siena headquarters.

Monte dei Paschi is the world's oldest bank, dating back to 1472 Photo: Alamy

 

 

 

 

David Rossi was the head of the bank's communications unit.

A witness told Reuters that his body, which had been covered with a sheet, lay beneath an open window overlooking a back street outside the building, a restored 14th century fortress.

The judicial source told Reuters that prosecutors were investigating whether Rossi had committed suicide. Italian news agencies ANSA and AGI reported that he had killed himself.

Rossi, born in 1961, was the spokesman of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena's foundation, the bank's biggest shareholder, from 2001 to 2006. When Giuseppe Mussari, the foundation's chairman, became chairman of the bank in 2006, Rossi remained his spokesman.

Mussari is under investigation in the probe on allegations of misleading regulators, market manipulation and false information in the prospectus of the Antonveneta deal.

Rossi, who was not under investigation himself, was among several people whose homes and offices were searched last month as part of a probe into the lender's purchase of Antonveneta in 2007 and subsequent losses linked to complex derivatives deals.
Source: Reuters