A Milan judge on Saturday ordered Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi to stand trial for his role in the collapse of the Italian food and dairy multinational in a massive fraud scandal.

The first hearing in the Milan trial has been scheduled for September 28. Tanzi faces charges that include market manipulation,issuing false information and obstructing Italy's stockmarket regulator Consob, according to Italian News Agency ANSA.

Tanzi is also expected eventually to stand trial in Parma, where prosecutors are investigating him and others for alleged fraud. No indictment requests have yet been filed in that branch of the probe,which is generally considered the more important one.

Parmalat group was declared bankrupt late in 2003 after it emerged that 4 billion euros it supposedly held in an offshore account did not in fact exist.

It slowly emerged that a 14.5-billion euro hole existed in the group's accounts.

Tanzi's lawyers said the group's founder had "accepted" his indictment calmly.

"He intends to reiterate however that he never knew of or approved the sale of bonds to investors," they said, referring to one of the key issues in the Milan investigation.

Dozens of Italian and international banks are accused of selling Parmalat bonds to small investors even when they knew the company was failing. Tens of thousands of people lost their savings when their bonds turned out to be worthless.

Along with Tanzi, 15 others were ordered to stand trial on similar charges.

Tanzi was jailed in December 2003 and then granted house arrest in April 2004. He was released from house arrest in September 2004.

Source: Xinhua