[DeTomaso] De Tomaso Chairman arrested

[Edracers at aol.com]

Aloha
This article appeared in the Automotive News Europe email:
Ed Kemper 
 
 
The chairman of Italian sports car maker De Tomaso, Gian Mario Rossignolo,  
and two other men were arrested during a probe into the misuse of 7.5 
million  euros ($9.2 million) of public funds, Italy's tax police said on 
Thursday. 
The funds were part of a failed plan to revive production of the brand at 
the  De Tomaso Automobili plant, a former Pininfarina factory in Grugliasco, 
near  Turin. 
Rossignolo, a former Fiat executive, bought the marque in November 2009 
after  the company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, a year after its founder's 
death. 
In 2011, he presented the SLS sedan at the Geneva auto show and announced  
plans to build up to 8,000 cars a year. But earlier this year Rossignolo was 
 forced to file for bankruptcy after failing to find financial backing. 
Rossignolo's and the carmaker's lawyers were not immediately available for  
comment. 
The Turin prosecutors office opened a probe a few months ago asking the tax 
 police to ascertain how De Tomaso was making use of public funds. 
Police said in a statement that investigators believe the managers may have 
 used a false bank guarantee to receive funds from the region of Piedmont 
and  from the European Union, and that some of the money may have ended up in 
the  three men's bank accounts. 
De Tomaso received several million euros in public funds for the 
re-training  of 1,000 workers starting in January. The workers have been on temporary 
layoff  since 2010. 
In May, the Piedmont region asked the company to refund 5 million euros it  
had granted to the carmaker. 
Rossignolo, who is under house arrest, is being investigated along with the 
 head of De Tomaso's human resources office and a financial intermediary. 
During a 22-year career with Fiat Group, Rossignolo was a top marketing  
executive at the company and CEO of the Italian automaker's Lancia brand from  
1977 to 1979. 
The De Tomaso brand was founded in 1959 in Modena, Italy, by Argentine  
racecar driver Alejandro De Tomaso and became an iconic sports car marque in 
the  1960s and 1970s. 
The De Tomaso project is Rossignolo's second attempt at reviving a defunct  
Italian brand. About 15 years ago, he attempted to restart Isotta Fraschini 
and  an Audi-based Isotta Fraschini T8 was unveiled at the 1996 Geneva 
show, but it  never entered production.

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