An Italian magistrate has thrown out a request to issue an order to seize nearly Eur1.8 billion or GBP1.48 billion of assets from Nomura, the Japanese bank. The said seizure order was essential for the ongoing probe on the suspected fraud perpetrated with Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
The assets worth Eur140 million that were already seized were also ordered to be released under the magistrate's ruling, according to legal and judicial sources in Italy.
The government's prosecutorial arm is said to be investigating the losses resulting from the derivatives trading conducted under Monte Paschi's previous leadership. One of the said trades under investigation was a structured deal code named 'Alexandria'. Other banks, such as Deutsche Bank, had their account named 'Santorini' while Morgan Stanley had 'Nota Italia'.
Judge Ugo Bellini dissolved the seizure order previously issued because he said he did not find evidence of fraud conducted and determined that there was no urgent need to freeze the said assets as the contracts were formalized back in 2009.
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