Fraud case opens in Parmalat's hometown 2 1/2 years after dairy giant's failure

PARMA, Italy (AP) — Just 10 days after two Enron executives were convicted of fraud in Texas, a court in this northern Italian city launches proceedings Monday aimed at proving fraud in the €14 billion (US $18 billion) collapse of the Parmalat dairy giant — Europe's largest corporate failure.

Parmalat's swift and stunning failure was a blow to corporate Italy and shattered the pride of this pristine city of cobbled streets where the dairy empire was as prized as the city's other gastronomic legacies, parma ham and parmesan cheese.

But Parmalat's clean image as a simple dairy business — albeit one that sold milk, juice and baked goods in 30 countries — concealed a tangled …