Prosecutors say can prove Parmalat-BofA link

PARMA, Italy (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors can prove a link between a former Parmalat (PLT.MI) executive and an ex-Bank of America manager in investigations into the collapse of the Italian dairy firm, the chief prosecutor said.

"We proved the existence of a direct link between Fausto Tonna and Luca Sala (when he was a) manager at Bank of America" chief prosecutor Gerardo La Guardia in Parma said.

Parmalat, Italy's biggest listed food company, buckled after uncovering a 4 billion euro ($5.8 billion) hole in its accounts and is suing a number of banks as a result of its collapse. It was restructured and relisted on the Milan bourse in 2005.

Tonna denied on Saturday any involvement with Sala, who worked with Parmalat when he was head of corporate banking at Bank of America in Italy.

"I have never ordered payments of such nature" Tonna said.

Sala, who moved to Parmalat as a consultant in 2003, is on trial in Milan for market manipulation, false communication and acting as an obstacle to surveillance activities.

Bank of America has also denied that its managers were aware of Parmalat's situation before it fell apart.

"We have seen no evidence that any Bank of America executives were aware of the fraud at Parmalat," a bank spokesperson said on Sunday.

The prosecutor said magistrates have evidence of bank transfers by former Parmalat Chief Financial Officer Fausto Tonna to ex-Bank of America executive Luca Sala, which they believe would prove part of the bank's management was aware of Parmalat's situation before it tumbled under 14 billion euros of1 debt in 2003.

He said prosecutors believe the transfers, made to a Swiss bank account, allowed some of the management to profit, and added that investigations were continuing.