Italy's Riva Steel Billionaires May Close Largest Factory
01/18/2013 - One of Europe’s richest families is facing potential ruin after being accused of pumping cancer- inducing toxins into the air and having almost US$2 billion in assets seized by an Italian judge, Bloomberg reports.
One of Europe’s richest families is facing potential ruin after being accused of pumping cancer- inducing toxins into the air and having almost US$2 billion in assets seized by an Italian judge, Bloomberg reports.
Emilio Riva the chairman of closely held Gruppo Riva SpA, Italy’s largest steel producer, is accused of causing an “environmental disaster” at the company’s Ilva steelworks plant in Taranto, Italy, according to court documents. The billionaire lost an appeal on 16 January to overturn a house arrest imposed by the court in July, triggering a union protest at the plant, which Italian prosecutors closed part of in July.
Prime Minister Mario Monti’s government issued a decree in December reopening the facility, which the prosecutors have appealed to the country’s Constitutional Court.
The company, which has been paying its 12,000 workers since production ceased, is now running out of cash, according to a Riva official who declined to be identified because the company’s finances are private. It may be forced to close the plant if it can’t reach an agreement with its labor unions next week. One of the unions, FIM-CISL, declared an indefinite strike yesterday…
