ITALIAN TAX POLICE SAID SATURDAY THAT THEY HAD SEIZED WORKS BY VAN GOGH, PICASSO, CEZANNE AND OTHER GIANTS OF ART IN A CRACKDOWN ON ASSETS HIDDEN BY THE DISGRACED FOUNDER OF THE COLLAPSED DAIRY COMPANY PARMALAT. AUTHORITIES ESTIMATED THE 19 MASTERPIECES STASHED AWAY IN ATTICS AND BASEMENTS WERE VALUED AT SOME $150 MILLION. PARMA PROSECUTOR GERARDO LAGUARDIA SAID THAT, BASED ON WIRETAPPED PHONE CONVERSATIONS, OFFICIALS BELIEVED AT LEAST ONE OF THE PAINTINGS HIDDEN BY CALISTO TANZI WAS ABOUT TO BE SOLD. BOLOGNA-BASED TAX POLICE COL. PIERO IOVINO TOLD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THAT INVESTIGATORS BELIEVED THE ENTIRE BATCH OF PAINTINGS, WATERCOLOURS AND DRAWINGS WERE UP TO BE SOLD. THE PROSPECTIVE BUYER WAS A RUSSIAN, POSSIBLY LIVING IN ITALY. NO ARRESTS WERE ANNOUNCED AS PART OF THE ART SEIZURE. TAX POLICE SAID PARMA PROSECUTORS ARE OPENING A PROBE INTO ALLEGED CONCEALING OF ASSETS IN PARMALAT'S BANKRUPTCY CASE.
PARMALAT, THE DAIRY CONGLOMERATE KNOWN FOR ITS LONG SHELF-LIFE MILK GREW FROM A SMALL DAIRY DISTRIBUTOR PARMA, INTO A DIVERSIFIED, MULTINATIONAL FOOD COMPANY BY 1990, BUT COLLAPSED IN 2003 UNDER $10 BILLION IN DEBT. FOR YEARS AFTER THE COLLAPSE, TANZI WAS RUMORED TO HAVE A 'HIDDEN TREASURE' SOMEWHERE. ON 29.NOVEMBER, A STATE TV SHOW ALLEGED THAT TANZI HAD HIDDEN A COLLECTION OF FAMOUS ARTWORKS TO TRY TO SHELTER HIMSELF FROM THE EFFECTS OF BANKRUPTCY. IN RESPONSE TO THE PROGRAM TANZI TOLD REPORTERS: "I DON'T HAVE ANY SECRET CACHE." AFTER THE TV SHOW, 'WE TIGHTENED THE SCREWS' AND ZEROED IN ON TANZI'S SON-IN-LAW, IOVINO SAID. 'HE TOLD US THAT THE PAINTINGS WERE TANZI'S AND LED POLICE TO THE APARTMENTS.' AMONG THE MASTERPIECES WAS A PENCIL ON PAPER PORTRAIT OF A BALLERINA BY DEGAS, TWO VAN GOGHS, INCLUDING A DEPICTION OF A TRUNK OF A WILLOW TREE AND A STILL LIFE, A WATERCOLOUR BY CEZANNE AND A PENCIL-WORK BY MODIGLIANI. TAX POLICE OFFICIAL MASSIMO SAID SOME OF THE PAINTINGS WERE CAREFULLY WRAPPED FOR PROTECTION, BUT THAT OTHER PAINTINGS, INCLUDING A PICASSO, WERE LEFT OPEN IN THE STORE ROOM.
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