2 FIAT OFFICERS FACE CHARGES OF CORRUPTION

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 23, 1993                   TAG: 9302230102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ROME                                LENGTH: Short
2 FIAT OFFICERS FACE CHARGES OF CORRUPTION
The corruption scandal sweeping Italy hit the industrial giant Fiat on Monday with the arrest of two top executives. Fiat stock and the lira, the national currency, both sank.
Arrested were Fiat's chief financial officer, Paolo Mattioli, and Antonio Mosconi, managing director of a large Fiat-controlled insurance group. A court in Milan said both were suspected of having violated laws on political party financing and of complicity in corruption.
Mattioli, 52, is considered the financial brain of Turin-based Fiat, Italy's largest private concern with $40 billion in revenues last year.
He also heads CogefarImpresit, Fiat's construction subsidiary. Prosecutors have been investigating to see if the unit paid kickbacks to politicians in exchange for obtaining public works construction contracts.
Mosconi, 49, was an executive with the construction group before becoming head of Toro Assicurazioni, the insurance arm that is one of Fiat's most important holdings.
A corruption probe that began in Milan has led to the arrests of more than 125 politicians and business people. It involves payoffs for contracts.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB