The chief lawyer for Calisto Tanzi, the imprisoned founder of Parmalat, resigned yesterday after he was placed under investigation for allegedly laundering Mr Tanzi's cash in Switzerland.

Mr Michele Ributti is suspected by Swiss and Italian investigative magistrates of having laundered €1 million in 2001 and 2002.

Investigators believe the money went from Tanzi-owned Swiss bank accounts to a company in Italy that is 2 per cent owned by Mr Ributti and 98 per cent owned by a Luxembourg company, Cimob, that appears to be controlled by Mr Tanzi.

The company, Tulipano, or tulip in Italian, was dissolved in mid-2002.

Mr Vittorio D'Aiello, the lawyer for Mr Ributti, rejected the allegation that Mr Tanzi's lawyer had laundered money.

He said the money was paid by Mr Tanzi for "professional and extra- judicial services" into a bank account belonging to Mr Ributti and that the cash never left that account.

"Therefore it can't be considered money-laundering if it didn't move on to somewhere else," Mr D'Aiello said.

He described extra-judicial services as legal advice for non-court related work. Asked whether that work could be documented, Mr D'Aiello said no.

The allegation is a sideshow to the global probe into the disappearance of €14 billion from Parmalat's accounts.

However, the incident highlights efforts by Italian magistrates to tie together as many suspicious transactions as possible before pressing charges against Mr Tanzi, numerous other former Parmalat executives and, possibly, bankers for the dairy group. - (Financial Times Service)