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Source text - Italian DIRITTO
Premessa
Va innanzitutto premesso che non vi è contestazione in merito alla maggior parte dei fatti che hanno portato al licenziamento del ricorrente: non vi è in particolare contestazione relativamente ai risultati della verifica dell’inventario compiuta il 1° marzo 2004 dai signori Cappendyk e Zanotti e ai dati che sono emersi, indicati nel dettaglio nella lettera di contestazione. Conseguentemente, essi devono considerarsi come pienamente provati.
AllaCiò premesso, alla luce di quanto sopra evidenziato e di quanto allegato nello stesso atto introduttivo, a parere di questa difesa la questione che ci si deve porre preliminarmente non è tanto se sussista o meno la giusta causa di recesso.
Infatti, non vi può davvero essere dubbio sulla legittimità del licenziamento di un Direttore Generale a Amministratore Delegato che:
(i) fornisce consapevolmente dati non veritieri circa l’inventario fisico della società che gestisce, giudicando la richiesta del Presidente del Consiglio di Amministrazione come “estemporanea”, “non tassativa” e infine “non urgente” (insomma, quasi fosse un capriccio!);
(ii) ritiene che gli unici dati che devono essere veritieri sono quelli che riguardano la predisposizione del bilancio, giudicando quindi le attività contabili informative intermedie come inutili perdite di tempo;
(iii) ordina ad un proprio dipendente di manomettere scritture contabili al fine di nascondere alla proprietà le reali giacenze di magazzino;
(iv) ordina ad una dipendente di non includere il costo di merci in transito in quello dei beni acquistati nel conto dei profitti e delle perdite;
(v) si disinteressa della attività commerciali della società che dirige, fornendo ancora una volta al Presidente del Consiglio di Amministrazioni informazioni non rispondenti al vero;
(vi) ordina ad una dipendente di rimanere assente dal lavoro nei giorni in cui il Presidente del Consiglio di Amministrazione è in sede e di firmare corrispondenza indirizzata allo stesso con il nome di un’altra dipendente;
(vii) disattende a più riprese direttive e specifiche istruzioni ricevute dal Presidente del Consiglio di Amministrazione.
Di fronte a tali episodi così sconcertanti di malgoverno, nei quali si mischiano insipienza, superficialità ed arroganzae mala fede, la questione che ci si pone è come il ricorrente possa anche solamente aspirare alle tutele previste dal contratto collettivo per il dirigenti di aziende industriali, predisposte dai contraenti per disciplinare il rapporto del lavoratore che ha il compito di “promuovere, coordinare e gestire la realizzazione degli obiettivi dell’impresa” (art. 1 del contratto collettivo).
8. Della giusta causa di recesso
Secondo costante giurisprudenza della Suprema Corte, costituisce giusta causa di licenziamento ai sensi dell’art. 2119 Cod. Civ. “una mancanza oggettivamente e soggettivamente di rilievo tale da risolversi in una grave negazione degli elementi del rapporto di lavoro, e in particolare di quello fiduciario, così da non consentire, neppure in via provvisoria, la continuazione della collaborazione tra le parti, che trova appunto, nell’elemento fiduciario il suo presupposto fondamentale (v. Cass. 13 maggio 1997, n. 4175; Cass. 11 dicembre 1991, n. 13353).
Difficile, proprio per quanto sopra evidenziato, non convenire sul fatto che il comportamento tenuto dal sig. Gobbato non fosse di tale gravità da compromettere - fino a fare venire meno - quel vincolo fiduciario che lo legava all’imprenditore.
Anzi, la prosecuzione del rapporto, anche su base temporanea, appariva del tutto impensabile: chi fiducia può riporsi in un dirigente che agisce a proprio arbitrio ed in contrasto con specifiche direttive del Presidente del Consiglio di Amministrazione? E che trasmette allo stesso dati inveritieri circa l’andamento aziendale, ordinando al personale di manomettere libridati contabili destinati al Presidente del Consiglio di Amministrazione?
Evidentemente, nessuna. Così come è del tutto incompatibile con un ruolo apicale, che dovrebbe essere caratterizzato da un minimo di prestigio, chi arriva ad assumere atteggiamenti grotteschi ordinando al personale dipendente di “nascondersi” agli occhi del Presidente del Consiglio di Amministrazione.
Si tenga infatti presente, che “l’accertamento di una giusta causa deve tener conto di tutti gli aspetti del caso concreto, dovendo il comportamento del lavoratore valutarsi nel suo contenuto oggettivo, con specifico riferimento alla natura ed alla qualità del singolo rapporto, al particolare vincolo di fiducia che esso implica, per la posizione rivestita nel suo ambito dal lavoratore, al grado di affidamento richiesto dalle mansioni esercitate nell’ambito dell’organizzazione dell’impresa, ma anche nella sua portata soggettiva, in relazione, cioè alle circostanze del suo verificarsi, ai motivi che l’hanno determinato e all’intensità del momento volitivo” (Cass. 4 marzo 1996, n. 1667; Cass. 22 marzo 1994).
Tenendo dunque in considerazione da una parte i principi stabiliti dalla Corte di Cassazione e dall’altra l’intensità del rapporto fiduciario tra le parti, è giocoforza concludere per la giusta causa del licenziamento per giusta causa intimato al ricorrente.
Il sig. Gobbato era infatti il punto di riferimento della proprietà nonché amministratore delegato della Società, colui nel quale veniva riposta la massima fiducia per la corretta ed efficace gestione aziendale.
9. In subordine: laLa giustificatezza del recesso
In subordine – e salvo gravame - nella davvero non creduta ipotesi in cui si ritenesse cheragione di quanto sopra evidenziato il comportamento del sig. Gobbato non abbia integrato un’ipotesi di giusta causa, rileviamo che lo stesso dovrebbe inevitabilmente essere considerato idoneo ad integrare quellaa fortori rientra pienamente nella nozione di giustificatezza previstadi recesso così come previsto dall’art. 19 del CCNL Dirigenti Industria ed idonea a supportare un provvedimento espulsivo in quanto certamente atto a turbareidoneo a ledere irreparabilmente il legame di fiducia con il datore di lavoro.
Infatti, come noto, la nozione convenzionale di giustificatezza del licenziamento è molto più ampia di quella di giusta causa o di giustificato motivo, e “si estende fino a ricomprendere qualsiasi motivo di recesso che ne escluda l’arbitrarietà, con i limiti del rispetto dei principi di correttezza e buona fede nell’esecuzione del contratto, e del divieto del licenziamento discriminatorio” (ex multis: Cass. 13 gennaio 2003, n. 322; Cass., 23 febbraio 2002, n. 2639). Pertanto, la ricorrenza della giustificatezza dell’atto risolutivo - ancor più strettamente vincolata al carattere fiduciario del rapporto di lavoro dirigenziale - è da correlare alla presenza di valide ragioni di cessazione del rapporto lavorativo, come tali apprezzabili sotto il profilo della correttezza e della buona fede, sicché non giustificato è il licenziamento per ragioni meramente pretestuose, al limite della discriminazione” (ex multis: Cass., 1 giugno 2005, n. 11691; Cass., 7 agosto 2004, n. 15322).
Tanto precisato, non v’è chi non veda come il comportamento tenuto dal sig. Gobbato caratterizzato, tra l’altro, dalla comunicazione di informazioni inveritiere al Presidente del Consiglio di Amministrazione, violazioni di disposizioni aziendali, ordini al personale di manomettere libri contabilidati di natura contabile sia comportamento oggettivamente idoneo a ledere la fiducia del datore stesso, a fortiorimaggior ragione ove si consideri il ruolo aziendale del sig. Gobbato quale figura di riferimento per la Società e nondimenomassimo dirigente investito addirittura delle funzioni di amministratore delegato.
Non si può quindi parlare di ingiustificatezza del comportamento tenuto dal datore di lavoro, e non vi può essere diritto alla indennità supplementare, quando si sia in presenza di una situazione quale quella emersa a seguito delle indagini e descritta in narrativa.
Il ricorrente, in altre parole, nel disattendere basilari doveri di fedeltà e diligenza imposti dalla legge, ha tradito la missione di “promuovere, coordinare e gestire la realizzazione degli obiettivi dell’impresa” che viene attribuita al dirigente dall’art. 1 del contratto collettivo di cui egli invoca a sproposito le tutele.
Ne consegue che il licenziamento intimato al ricorrente non solo è sorretto da motivi più che validi, in gran parte ammessi dalla stessa controparte, ma costituisce un provvedimento addirittura indispensabile per assicurare un corretto svolgimento delle attività aziendali, messe a rischio dal comportamento negligente, approssimativo e superficiale evidenziato in narrativa.
10. Sulla asserita violazione dell’art. 7, legge 20 maggio 1970, n. 300
A corto di argomenti in merito alla sostanza della questione, il ricorrente tenta di individuare delle inesistenti lacune di natura prettamente formale nel licenziamento intimato dalla Società.
Nessuna delle argomentazioni avversarie coglie tuttavia nel segno.
Va innanzitutto chiarito che è indubitabile – e comunque non contestato - il ruolo apicale rivestito dal sig. Gobbato all’interno dell’esponente. In qualità di amministratore delegato e massimo dirigente al ricorrente era attribuita la delicata funzione di gestire le attività produttive, commerciali e organizzative dell’esponente, nel rispetto, ovviamente, delle linee guida e delle procedure in vigore presso il Gruppo Leggett & Platt e delle direttive impartite dal Presidente del Consiglio di Amministrazione. Coerentemente, al ricorrente erano attribuiti i relativi poteri sia di rappresentanza che di natura sostanziale, come confermato dalla stessa controparte.
Sicché i richiami all’art. 7 dello Statuto dei Lavoratori sono del tutto inappropriati: la Società non era infatti in alcun modo tenuta ad applicare nei suoi confronti alcun procedimento disciplinare ex art. 7 St. Lav; e l’avvenuta preventiva contestazione degli addebiti, ascrivibile unicamente alla volontà della Società di uniformare la propria condotta ai principi di correttezza e buona fede, non è fonte di alcun diritto del ricorrente all’osservanza dell’art. 7 St. Lav.
E’ noto infatti che “la procedura di cui all’art. 7 (Legge n. 300 del 20 maggio 1970, n.d.r.) trova applicazione nei confronti del personale della bassa e media dirigenza che sia legalmente ascrivibile alla categoria del personale direttivo (cd. pseudo dirigenti o dirigenti meramente convenzionali )” (Cass., Sez. Lav, sent. n. 9715 del 18 luglio 2001; conforme, tra le tante Cass., Sez. Lav., sent. n. 9766 del 25 luglio 2000; Cass., Sez. Lav., sent. n. 1434 del 11 febbraio 1998).
Quand’anche si volesse aderire a quell’orientamento della Corte di Cassazione, peraltro, isolato, che richiede comunque l’applicazione dell’art. 7, le conclusioni non cambiano.
Al licenziamento del dirigente non si applicano in ogni caso per giurisprudenza consolidata i principi di immediatezza e proporzionalità, dovendo l’indagine circa l’illegittimità o ingiustificatezza del licenziamento riguardare la sola verifica della rottura del rapporto fiduciario. Più particolarmente, secondo l’insegnamento della Corte di Cassazione, rimane “esclusa non solo l’applicabilità della norma di cui all’art. 2106 cod. civ. sulla proporzionalità tra sanzione e gravità dell’infrazione, ma anche l’applicabilità dei criteri dell’immediatezza e della specificità della contestazione dei fatti addebitati al dirigente licenziato, nonostante ogni diversa previsione della contrattazione collettiva” (Cass. 1° aprile 1999, n. 3148 -
Translation - English LEGAL ARGUMENT
Introduction
First of all, there is no dispute regarding most of the events that led to plaintiff’s dismissal: specifically theree is no dispute on the results of the inventory audit performed on March 1, 2004 by Messrs Cappendyk and Zanotti, and the figures that resulted therefrom, explained in detail in our letter of reprimand. As a result, they must be deemed fully proven. .
On that assumption, and in view of what has been set forth above and what is alleged in the complaint itself, in the opinion of these attorneys the issue here is not so much whether there was good cause for termination. Indeed, there can be no genuine doubt regarding the lawfulness of the dismissal of a managing director and Managing Director who:
(i) Knowingly provides untruthful information on the physical inventory of the company he manages, calling the request from the Chairman of the Board “extemporaneous,” “not of an imperative nature,” and finally “not urgent” (in other words, treating it as a mere whim!).
(ii) Believes that the only figures that need be accurate are those that concern the preparation of the annual financial statement, thus implying that all interim accounting business of an informative nature is a mere waste of time;
(iii) Orders one of his subordinates to tamper with accounting records to conceal from the owners the true stocks present in the warehouse;
(iv) Orders an employee not to include the cost of goods in transit in the cost of purchased goods, in the profit and loss statement;
(v) Neglects the sales end of the company he runs, again providing inaccurate information to the Chairman of the Board;
(vi) Orders an employee to stay away from her workplace on the days on which the Chairman of the Board is present at the facility, and to sign mail addressed to the Chairman of the Board with the name of another employee;
(vii) Several times disregards directives and specific instructions received from the Chairman of the Board.
Against a background of such disconcerting incidents of maladministration in which inanity blends with frivolity and bad faith, the issue posed is: how can plaintiff claim the protection of the collective contract for managers of industrial firms, drawn up by the contracting parties to regulate the relationship with [?] workers who are entrusted with the task of “promote, coordinate and administer the achievement of the firm’s objectives” (article 1 of the Collective Contract)?
8. On good cause for termination
In accordance with unvarying case law of the Supreme Court, good cause for dismissal under article 2119 Civil Code is constituted by “a fault that is substantial from both a subjective and an objective standpoint, leading to serious lack of factors [necessary to] a relationship of employment, and specifically of the factor of trustworthiness, to such an extent that it is not possible for one party to continue working for the other, even on a temporary basis, since such an arrangement depends most of all on the element of trust (see Sup. Ct. May 13, 1997, no. 4175; Sup. Ct. December 11, 1991, no. 13353).
In the light of the above, one can scarcely fail to agree that the misbehavior engaged in by Mr. Gobbato was of sufficient gravity to endanger – to the point of utterly destroying – the bond of trust that linked him to the proprietor of the business. Indeed, any continuation of such relationship, even on a temporary basis, appeared wholly inconceivable: What trust can be placed in an executive who acts according to his own will and in violation of the specific instructions of the Chairman of the Board? And who conveys to the latter untruthful information on the company’s business situation while instructing the staff to tamper with the accounting figures intended for the Chairman of the Board?
Obviously, none whatever. In the same way as it is wholly incompatible with a leadership position, which should be characterized by a certain modicum of dignity, for a manager to adopt the absurd role of ordering his subordinates to “hide” from the sight of the Chairman of the Board.
Bearing in mind that “the determination of good cause must take into consideration all aspects of the specific case, such that the worker’s behavior is to be judged according to its objective content, with specific reference to nature and quality of the individual relationship, to the particular bond of trust that it contains, as a result of the position held by the worker within his environment, to the degree of trustworthiness required by the duties performed in the framework of the firm’s organization, but also in its subjective aspect, namely with respect to the circumstances under which it takes place, the causes that have brought it about and the intensity of the volition involved” (Sup. Ct. March 4, 1996, no. 1667; Sup. Ct. March 22, 1994).
Therefore bearing in mind on the one hand the principles set forth by the Supreme Court and on the other the intensity of the bond of trust between the parties, we must inevitably conclude for good cause for dismissal for good cause notified to plaintiff.
The issue of whether sufficient grounds existed for the termination
In the light of the above Mr. Gobbato’s behavior must a fortiori suffice to establish good cause for dismissal under article 19 of the National Collective Labor Contract for Industrial Executives since without a doubt it tends irreparably to impair the bond of trust with the employer.
As a matter of fact, as stated above, the conventional notion of sufficient grounds for dismissal is much broader than those of good cause or fair reason, and “extends so far as to encompass any reason for termination short of arbitrary action, [one that remains] within the bounds of compliance with the principles of fairness and of good faith in the performance of one’s contractual obligations and the ban on discriminatory dismissal” (many cases: Sup. Ct. January 13, 2003, no. 322; Sup. Ct., February 23, 2002, no. 2639). Consequently compliance with the principle of sufficient grounds for the act of dissolution [of a labor contract] – even more closely linked to the need that trust be deposited in persons performing management tasks – should be associated with the existence of valid reasons for dismissal from employment, such as those included under the heading of [lack of] propriety and good faith; therefore those dismissals are unwarranted for which the grounds are mere pretexts, up to the bounds of discrimination” (many cases: Sup. Ct., June 1, 2005, no. 11691; Sup. Ct., August 7, 2004, no. 15322).
Having clarified these points, nobody can fail to see how the behavior displayed by Mr. Gobbato, characterized among other things by the transmittal of untruthful information to the Chairman of the Board, transgression of company rules, orders to staff to tamper with accounting figures, in a word conduct objectively suited to impair the trust of the employer, all the more if one considers Mr. Gobbato’s role as top executive entrusted no less than with the position of Managing Director.
[Insert from attached sheet]
10. Regarding the alleged violation of article 7, Law of May 20, 1970, no. 300
Lacking arguments on the merits of the issue, plaintiff tries to identify non-existent deficiencies of a purely formal nature in the dismissal decided by the firm.
However none of our opponent’s arguments strikes its target.
First of all there is no doubt – although never explicitly stated -- that Mr. Gobbato’s status in the respondent firm was of a managerial nature. As managing director and highest executive, plaintiff bore the delicate responsibility of running the manufacturing, sales and organizational activities at the respondent firm, in compliance, naturally, with the guidelines and procedures in effect in the Leggett & Platt Group and the instructions given by the Chairman of the Board. Accordingly plaintiff held the pertinent authority, both of a representational and a substantive character, as our opponent concedes.
Consequently citations of article 7 of the Workers’ Charter (WkCh) are completely out of place: the Company had no duty to apply to him any disciplinary procedure under article 7 WkCh; and the preliminary reprimand which was addressed to him for his offense, attributable solely to the Company’s desire to adapt its conduct to the principles of fairness and good faith, cannot be a source of rights for the plaintiff under article 7 WkCh.
It is well known that “the procedure under article 7 (Note – referring to Law no. 300 of May 20, 1970) is applicable to staff belonging to lower and middle management that is legally to be included in management staff (so-called pseudo-managers or managers merely by convention)” (Sup. Ct., Labor Disputes Section, judgment no. 9715 of July 18, 2001; in conformity, among many, Sup. Ct., Lab. Disp. Sec., judgment no. 9766 of July 25, 2000; Sup. Ct., Lab. Disp. Sec., judgment no. 1434 of February 11, 1998).
Furthermore, even if one wanted to comply with that guideline from the Supreme Court seen in isolation – although it requires application of article 7 -- the conclusions do not change.
In accordance with established case law, a manager’s dismissal is not subject in any case to the principles of immediacy and proportionality. Rather the enquiry into lawful or unlawful nature of a dismissal must be restricted to ascertainment of a breach in the fiduciary relationship. More specifically, in accordance with Supreme Court doctrine we must “rule out not only applicability of the rule of article 2106 Civil Code on proportionality between punishment and seriousness of the offense, but also applicability of the standards of immediate and specific reprimand with the acts chargeable to the dismissed manager, despite any contrary provision in the collective labor contract.” (Sup. Ct. April 1, 1999, no. 3148 – which cites likewise the rulings of November 25, 1996, no. 10445 and October 12, 1996, no. 8934). This principle was subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court, which held that “to dismiss top management staff of an industrial firm, the employer is not bound to follow the procedure under article 27 WkCh, nor to comply with the principles -- established through case law – of immediate reprimand and unchanging nature of the acts charged, nor that of specific reprimand” (Sup. Ct., April 28, 2003, no. 6606).
The grounds therefore are quite simple: the principles of immediacy and proportionality are wholly inconsistent with an employment relationship of the managerial type, which is characterized by a pronounced intuitus personae and an extremely high degree of trust.
Within such a context it is not even conceivable for an executive to be subjected to disciplinary sanctions like a written reprimand, a fine or temporary suspension from the job. Moreover, punishment would plaintiff consider commensurate with the acts that led to his dismissal? A fine perhaps?
The issue of lawfulness or otherwise of the disciplinary sanction of dismissal hinges solely on whether the failings charged to the manager are capable or not of impairing the fragile bond of trust which underlies the employment relationship, without entering into the question of proportionality (which presumes existence of the concrete alternative of a conservative [sic] sanction). By virtue of these undisputed principles, plaintiff’s objections are completely out of place both in terms of proportionality of dismissal – for the aforesaid reasons – and with respect to any alleged “delay” in its execution, which lacks any basis in law.
Moreover, it is unthinkable to extend to the manager the protection provided for by the collective labor contract (CLC) for “employees of the top rank employed at the firm to which the manager belongs” as our opponent might require, with a good doles of imagination (or desperation?), by virtue of the reference [to other norms] provided for in article 27 of the CLC for Executives of Industry: This reference, as the rule explains, applies only to rules “consistent with the manager’s status”.
Rules on procedure and on disciplinary sanctions are plainly not consistent with a manager’s status, indeed, so much so that the Supreme Court held, as we have seen, that the principles of immediacy and proportionality are inapplicable to managers “despite any contrary provision of the CLC” (Sup. Ct., April 1, 1999, no. 3148).
Italian to English: Financial Report
Source text - Italian Nell'esposizione che segue sono affrontati nell'ordine le problematiche relative alla liquidità e dell'indebitamento (entità e composizione) e, per l'ultimo anno, le criticità della gestione finanziaria riguardo alla posizione di liquidità, alle relazioni con le banche ed all'emissione dei bonds.
1. La liquidità
1.1. Le disponibilità liquide e le attività Finanziarie non immobilizzate iscritte nell'attivo circolante
del bilancio consolidato del gruppo Parmalat
1.2. Modalità di impiego della liquidità: la contraddittorietà delle informazioni fornite
1.3. La "qualità" della presunta liquidità.
1 Cfr, Lettera del 19 dicembre 2003 inviata dalla Consob alla Procura della Repubblica presso i! Tribunale di Parma avente per oggetto Parmalat Finanziaria spa - segnalazione di ipotesi penalmente rilevanti, pp. 1-2.
42 556
1.1. Le disponibilità liquide e le attività finanziarie non immobilizzate iscritte nell'attivo circolante del bilancio consolidato del gruppo Parmalat
Le disponibilità liquide e le attività finanziarie non immobilizzate iscritte nell'attivo circolante del bilancio consolidato del gruppo Parmalat (o più semplicemente la "liquidità") sono state oggetto di particolare attenzione per l'ammontare elevato (e inusuale) raggiunto nel tempo in concomitanza con un cospicuo indebitamento. L'ammontare della liquidità del gruppo iscritta a bilancio e rilevata nella Tabella 1 mostra una crescita pressoché costante e assai sostenuta. La disponibilità di mezzi monetari (nella forma di conti correnti bancari attivi) e di liquidità "potenziale" (nella veste di strumenti finanziari prontamente trasformabili in mezzi monetari) appaiono inusuali non tanto per i valori assoluti raggiunti ma soprattutto in relazione alla dinamica dì altre quantità economiche di bilancio (Tabella 2). La rilevanza e la significatività di tale fenomeno è misurato dalla costante ed elevata crescita dell'incidenza percentuale della "liquidità''' sul fatturato, sull'indebitamento e sul patrimonio netto. Altro elemento di rilievo è rappresentato dal fatto che dal 1999 con l'impiego della liquidità disponibile sarebbe stato "idealmente" possibile acquistare - al loro prezzo corrente di mercato - tutte le azioni in circolazione della società capogruppo PARFIN. In merito alle due componenti (disponibilità liquide e Attività finanziarie iscritte nell'attivo circolante) si può rilevare che:
a) sotto il profilo quantitativo gli incrementi più significativi si verifìcano negli armi 1994, 1996 e
1997;
b) le disponibilità liquide raggiungono il loro massimo importo nel 2000;
e) nell'ultimo periodo (2001-2003) l'elevata liquidità immediata (cassa e banche) è parzialmente sostituita da impieghi in titoli e altri strumenti finanziari. Sostituzione che, come più dettagliatamente illustrato in altre relazioni della consulenza tecnica, si concreta nelle manipolazioni contabili dirette a simulare una gestione "attiva" di crediti inesigibili, di investimenti finanziari immaginar! e di liquidità inesistente.
42 557
Tabella 1 - Gruppo Parmalat Attività liquide o liquidabili
Anno Disponibilità liquide Attività finanziarie iscritte nell'attivo circolante Liquidità e attività finanziarie non immobilizzate
1990 63,0 1,2 64,2
1991 40,9 5,0 45,9
1992 98,2 5,7 103,9
1993 155,2 6,6 161,8
1994 287,8 46,5 334,3
1995 331,0 63,5 394,5
1996 583,9 179,9 763,8
1997 1.008,4 458,7 1.467,1
199S 1.131,1 708,4 1.839,5
1999 1.326,0 929,5 2.255,5
2000 1.920,5 782,2 2.702,7
2001 1.464,8 1.459,6 2.924,4
2002 950,6 2.412,9 3.363,6
30/6/2003 866,6 2.455,6 3.322,2
Fonte: Bilancio consolidato. Valori in milioni di €
Vista attraverso la contabilità ufficiale, la struttura patrimoniale del gruppo ParFin presenta nel tempo una configurazione assai più simile a quella di un intermediario finanziario (banca o società finanziaria) che a quella di una impresa industriale e commerciale. Così come evidenziata dai dati di bilancio, la peculiare struttura finanziaria del gruppo - caratterizzata da un elevato indebitamento a fronte di una altrettanto elevata liquidità - denota significativi livelli di "intermediazione finanziaria" (raccolta e impiego di fondi) che non potevano non essere oggetto di attenzione da parte di analisti finanziari, di investitori2 e finanziatori in genere per due principali ordini di motivi: a) la "qualità" degli investimenti realizzati, riconducibile - oltre che alla loro effettiva esistenza - alle concrete possibilità di una loro trasformazione in mezzi monetari senza costi apprezzabili e con immediatezza; b) i benefici economici ottenibili da una intensa attività di approvvigionamento di fondi e di impiego in "attività finanziarie" o, in altre parole, l'esistenza e la misura del divario tra il reddito derivante dagli investimenti in "attività liquide" ed il costo della raccolta del denaro impiegato.
2 Al riguardo è sintomatica la e-mail di CERVELLERA in data 18.3.03 in cui si rileva che da] 2001 "i contatti con il mercato si sono duplicati per accresciute esigenze di informazioni" Cfr. PM: Ioffredi, SIT CerveUcra del 27/2/04 - Allegati - p. 117.
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Tabella 2 - PARFIN - Incidenza percentuale liquidità (Liquidità e attività finanziarie non immobilizzate)
Anno Liquidità/Fatturato Liquidità/Debiti totali Liquidità/Patrimonio netto Liquidi tà/Capitalizzazione '
1990 11,3% 16,3% 16,2% 15,9%
1991 6,7% 10,3% 10,4% 12,4%
1992 12,3% 17,4% 21,8% 24,6%
1993 11,0% 15,6% 22,4% 12,6%
1994 17,9% 23,7% 44,1% 33,3%
1995 17,8% 23,6% 46,3% 49,2%
1996 27,1% 37,9% 64,9% 42,6%
1997 39,9% 43,1% 87,8% 76,2%
1998 36,2% 36,3% 93,3% 76,6%
1999 35,5% 35,4% 90,6% 116,1%
2000 36,8% 39,5% 102,2% 101,3%
2001 37,5% 42,5% 103,2% 120,8%
2002 44,3% 46,9% 149,5% 187,1%
Fonte: Bilancio Consolidato. ' Valore di mercato azioni ParFin (capitalizzazione di borsa al 31/12).
Nei vari documenti che compongono il bilancio (Relazione sulla gestione e Nota integrativa in particolare) il livello di informazione fornito appare largamente insufficiente specie se commisurato alla dimensione del fenomeno "liquidità". Fino al 1998 la presenza di oltre 1 miliardo di euro di cassa era così giustificata " (le disponibilità liquide) si riferiscono in parte a momentanee disponibilità che si sono accumulate alla fine dell'esercizio a seguito di finanziamenti ricevuti e non ancora utilizzati" . Successivamente, valori nettamente superiori (ad es. 1,9 mld nel 2000) sono laconicamente indicati come "disponibilità in essere presso istituti bancari".
Sulle attività finanziarie iscritte nell'attivo circolante, nel bilancio PARMALAT si legge l'indicazione seguente: "Sono composte principalmente da altri titoli costituiti in prevalenza da titoli di stato, da titoli emessi da istituti dì credito e da obbligazioni"*, precisando poi che "la liquidità viene investita in strumenti finanziari di breve termine a primarie condizioni di mercato e con basso profilo di rischio". Nulla si dice in merito al rendimento delle medesime che, tenuto conto del ^basso profilo di rischio", delle "primarie condizioni di mercato" e della breve scadenza degli strumenti, non poteva certo essere particolarmente elevato specie se rapportato ai costi della raccolta (cioè dei finanziamenti ricevuti). Tanto più che, sempre nel documento di bilancio, si puntualizza che "l'attività di raccolta è stata realizzata prevalentemente attraverso il collocamento dì bonds con scadenza a medio termine emesse da imprese controHate estere"5, prefigurando una
3 Cfr. Bilancio Consolidato 1998, p. 111 e 1997, p. 95.
4 Cfr. Bilancio consolidato anno 2001 p. 131.
5 Cfr. Bilancio consolidato 2001.
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attività di intermediazione finanziaria, assimilabile a quella di un istituto bancario o finanziario. Attività che tuttavia non può presentarsi se non nella veste di una intermediazione "di secondo grado", sia per le fonti stesse di approvvigionamento dei fondi (le banche e il sistema bancario e finanziario), sia per il più elevato costo dei fondi raccolti da PARMALAT rispetto ad operatori professionali come le banche. Al riguardo, il rating assegnato a Parmalat da STANDARD & POOR'S si colloca sul gradino più basso della scala "ìnvestiment grade"6 indicativo di condizioni di solvibilità "ancora sufficìentf e, conseguentemente, di un costo dei capitali raccolti correlato a tale livello di rischio. Anche la presenza di condizioni di fiscalità particolarmente favorevoli e tali da rendere positiva la differenza tra ricavi e costì finanziari netti (interessi attivi su "attivo liquido" ed interessi passivi sul debito al netto dei benefici fiscali7), non è di per sé un elemento decisivo sia per la persistenza degli elevati livelli di liquidità sia per l'entità del margine. A maggior ragione in caso di margine negativo, come comunicato nell'incontro con gli analisti nell'aprile 2003 , e giustificato come "costo della flessibilità'^ Da rilevare infine che nelle comunicazioni al mercato non vi sono riferimenti diretti o indiretti alla concentrazione della liquidità del gruppo nella Bonlat.
1.2. Modalità di impiego della liquidità: la contraddittorietà delle informazioni fornite
Rispetto alle laconiche informazioni contenute nei documenti di bilancio o fornite in altra forma da PARMALAT su un così rilevante fenomeno gestionale, l'interessamento e la ricerca - da parte di analisti e investitori - di ulteriori, più ampi e dettagliati elementi conoscitivi sulle modalità di impiego della liquidità, sulle caratteristiche degli strumenti sul rendimento e sui rischi potenziali dei medesimi, appaiono più che giustificati. Ciò anche in considerazione della contraddittorietà di talune informazioni fornite, peraltro con riluttanza, specie nel corso del 2003. Al riguardo, ferme restando le informazioni di base contenute nel bilancio consolidato sull'ammontare della "liquidità", da una corrispondenza interna DEL SOLDATO - FERRARIS10 si evince che le
6 11 rating assegnato è BBB-, quale sintesi del profilo di rischio cosi delineato: "Capacità ancora sufficiente dì pagamento degli interessi e del capitale. Tuttavia la presenza di condizioni economiche sfavorevoli o di una modifica delle circostanze potrebbero alterare in misura maggiore la capacità di onorare normalmente il debito." Il livello di rating immediatamente successivo è riservato agli investimenti così detti "speculativi".
1 Benefici fiscali ottenibili dalla localizzazione degli investimenti nei cosiddetti paradisi fiscali. Sui dubbi degli investitori e degli analisti in merito all'arbitraggio fiscale liquidità interessi passivi Cfr. PM: loffredi, SIT Cervellera del 27/2/04 - Allegati - p. 211-213 (corrispondenza e-mail Cervellera-Amministrazione Parmalat del 4/3/2003). nonché BRANCA, Annotazione di P.G. del 2 marzo 2004 - Posta elettronica spedita o ricevuta dal dott. FERRARIS, allegato nr. 7 - e-mait del 24/10/03 (Sala,Ferraris,DelSoldato).
8 Cfr. Parmalat Group, FYE 2002 Results and Strategies, 10 aprii 2003, Mitan - Slide 13.
9 "La cassa presente permette al gruppo di far fronte senza difficoltà alle scadenze di euro 3000 MM del triennio 2003/2005. Questa
flessibilità permette di rinegoziare a condizioni favorevoli il rifìnanziamento del debito" Così si esprime FERRARIS in risposta a
Galbiati del 2/7/03. Cfr. Cucinotta, SIT Bocchi G. del 13/2/04, e-mail Galbiati.
10 BRANCA, Annotazione di P.G. del 2 marzo 2004 - Posta elettronica spedita o ricevuta dal dott. FERRARIS, allegato nr. 7 e-mail
del 21/5/03.
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informazioni sulla localizzazione degli investimenti sono differenziate "per soggetto destinatario dell 'informazione" come riportato di seguito:
"Ai revisori, dai bilanci, risulta che la liquidità è in":
Tabella Revisori Min di euro %
Italia 372 10,4%
Europa 368 10,3%
Nord America * 2.735 76,5%
Centro america 69 1,9%
Sud america 9 0,3%
Africa 11 0,3%
Asia 2 0,1%
Australia 7 0,2%
Totale 3.573 100%
* il nord america comprende le isole Cayman
"A Standard &. Poor 's abbiamo detto che la liquidità è tenuta nei seguenti paesi "
Tabella S&P in%
Olanda 17%
Malta 19%
Italia 8%
Channel Island 8%
Cayman 17%
Manda 6%
Lussemburgo 12%
Vari 13%
Totale 100%
I dati delle tabelle (riferiti non solo alla "liquidità immediata e potenziale" ma anche ad investimenti in "altri titoli iscritti nelle immobilizzazioni finanziarie1') sono inconciliabili. Infatti, se nella "Tabella Revisori" dalla quota di investimenti localizzati in nord america (76,5%) si detrae (sulla base dei dati della "Tabella S&P") la percentuale di impieghi presso le isole Cayman (17%), il rimanente 59,5% non risulta riconducibile ad alcuno dei paesi di ipotetica localizzazione degli investimenti della "Tabella S&P". Al riguardo si può rilevare che la CONSOB, a seguito di una "fìtta serie di richieste di dati, notizie ed informazioni formulate a date ravvicinate nei confronti degli amministratori, dei sindaci e dei revisori ...del gruppo Parmalat "u perviene ad un riepilogo
11 Consob - Relazione 3082285 del 19/12/03; oggetto: Parmalat Finanziaria-Segnalazioni di ipotesi penalmente rilevanti, pp. 2-3
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della situazione di liquidità al 31/12/02, sottolineando che l'attivo non immobilizzato "appariva essere" il seguente:
Consolidato Parfin1 Bonlat1 % Bonlat
Disponibilità liquìde 951 436 45,8%
Titoli iscritti nell'attivo circolante 2.413 2.127 88,1%
Totale € 3.364 2.563 76,2%
'Al 31/12/02
Sulla base delle informazioni trasmesse da ParFin a Consob in data 21/7/03 la liquidità (la "cassa") del gruppo alla fine del 2002 ed al marzo 2003 risultava concentrata oltre che sulla Bonlat sulle due società finanziarie olandesi (Parmalat Finance Corporation bv e Parmalat Netherlands bv) come indicato nella tabella seguente:
Gruppo Parmalat — Riepilogo per società depositarla dei saldi attivi di conti correnti bancari1
Società al 31/12/02 al 31/3/03
Bonlat Financing Corporation 43(5 45,8% 645 68,3%
Parmalat Finanziaria spa 3 0,3% 15 1,6%
Parmalat spa 66 6,9% 68 7,2%
Parmalat Finance Corporation bv 191' 20,1% 117 12,4%
Parmalat Netherlands bv 112J 11,8% 10 1,1%
PDBI Liquidità management Hungary 34 3,6% 0
Parmalat Daiiy & Bakery 18 1,9% 0
Parmalat Food ine. 0 -.- 23 2,4%
Indulac 3 0,3% 13 1,4%
TOTALE PRINCIPALI DEPOSITARI12 863 90,7% 891 94,4%
Altre società 88 9,3% 53 5,6%
TOTALE LIQUIDITÀ 951 100,0% 944 100,0%
TOTALE LIQUIDITÀ ESCLUSO BONLAT 515 54,2% 299 31,7%
Valori in milioni di euro. ' Principali ammontari; 2 di cui 189 presso S.Paolo-Imi;3 di cui 109 presso S.Paolo-Imi.
La CONSOB poteva così rilevare che "gran parte della liquidità del gruppo Parmalat era concentrata presso la società controllata, indirettamente attraverso il sottogruppo Parmalat spa, Bonlat Financing Corporation con sede a Cayman Island"u, Più dettagliatamente la "liquidità" del gruppo PARMALAT riconducibile a BONLAT risultava così distribuita:
12 Consob, Relazione 3082946 del 23/12/03, oggetto: Segnalazioni di ipotesi penalmente rilevanti, - allegato 9 pp. 14-15; Dettaglio
dei depositari della liquidità del gruppo relativamente ai principali ammontari.
11 Consob - Relazione 3082285 del 19/12/03; oggetto: Parmalat Finanziaria spa-Segnalazioni di ipotesi penalmente rilevanti; p. 3.
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Disponibilità liquide iscritte nel bilancio di Bonlat al 31/12/02
Conto corrente presso Bank of America 320
Assegni 116
Totale € 436
Titoli iscritti nell'attivo circolante nel bilancio di Bonlat al 31/12/02
Titoli depositati presso Bank of America 819
Fondo Epicurum 504
Promissori notes 804
Totale € 2.127
L'importo della "liquidità Bonlat" al 31/12/02 rilevata dalla Consob appare diverso da quello evidenziato nel verbale14 del 10/4/03 del Collegio Sindacale e nel relativo allegato15. La "liquidità Bonlat" rappresentata nel verbale del Collegio sindacale è limitata ai soli "titoli dell'attivo circolante in portafoglio alla controllata Bonlat" ed è quantificata in € 2.374.373.114. Dall'allegato si evince tuttavia che la valuta di denominazione dovrebbe essere non in € ma in USD. Inoltre, indipendentemente dalla valuta di denominazione, i dati rilevabili dal Verbale del Collegio Sindacale non trovano conferma in quelli di Consob16. Infatti, tradotto in €, l'ammontare dei "titoli dell'attivo circolante" sarebbe pari a 2.264 milioni17 mentre per Consob risulterebbe pari a 2,127, La corrispondenza di valori è rilevabile sicuramente per l'importo del capitale sottoscritto nel Fondo Epicurum pari ad € 504 min (529/1,0487 = 504).1S Nel verbale del Collegio Sindacale di fatto non si tiene conto della riclassifica di promìssory notes, da attivo circolate a immobilizzazioni finanziarie, per un importo di USD 143 min ovvero di € 120 min., proposta da Grant Thomton e recepita in sede di bilancio consolidato (infatti 2.374 - 143 = 2.231 usd da cui 2.231/1,0487 = 2127
Nell'incontro con gli analisti finanziari del 10/4/03 le informazioni sulla liquidità appaiono fornite essenzialmente come illustrazione/commento dei dati contenuti nella tabella seguente30:
14 In particolare, foglio 02 del Verbale del 10/4/03 Collegio Sindacale Parmalat Finanziaria spa. Incontro con le società di revisione
Deloitte e Grant Thornton : richiesta di informazioni sulla nota integrativa in merito a liquidità del gruppo.
15 Documento "RE Titoli Bonlat" inviato in data 14 aprile 2003 via FAX da Grant Thornton spa nella persona del Dott. Verde al
Dott. Brughiera.
16 Consob - Relazione 3082285 del 19/12/03; oggetto: Parmalat Finanziaria spa-Segnalazioni di ipotesi penalmente rilevanti; p. 3.
17 Valorizzazione effettuata ai cambio €/$ di 1,0487 del 31/12/02 come da quotazioni utilizzate nella conversione dei bilanci a pp.
112-113 del Bilancio Consolidato Parmalat Finanziaria spa -versione a stampa.
18 Valorizzazione effettuata al cambio €/$ di 1,0487 del 31/12/02 come da quotazioni utilizzate nella conversione dei bilanci a pp.
L12-113 del Bilancio Consolidato Parmalat Finanziaria spa - versione a stampa.
19 Consob, Relazione 3082946 del 23/12/03, oggetto: Segnalazioni di ipotesi penalmente rilevanti, - allegato 19 pp.6-7; Bonlat -
Merno attività finanziarie non immobilizzate.
20 Parmalat Group, FYE 2002 Results and Strategies, 10 aprii 2003, Milan - Slide 12
42 £63
Disponibilità liquido 950 26,6%
Attività finanziarie iscritte nell'attivo circolante * 2.413 67,5%
Altri titoli iscritti nelle immobilizzazioni finanziarie 210 5,9%
Totale 3.573 100,0%
* titoli bancari, fondi comuni monetari, titoli di stato (paesi in via di sviluppo) obbligazioni internazionali (ìating classe A)
Oltre all'assenza di altri apparenti elementi quantitativi di dettaglio, la nota in cui compare l'indicazione di "titoli di statò" seguita da "paesi in via di sviluppo" - in mancanza di specificazioni - da un lato, rende difficilmente riconciliabile l'indicazione in questione con la ripartizione per localizzazione geografica degli investimenti delle tabelle precedenti (l'una portata a conoscenza dei revisori e l'altra dell'agenzia di rating Standard & Poor's) e, dall'altro lato, tende a generare ulteriori dubbi e perplessità sulla qualità degli impieghi (definiti in bilancio "di rating A") in paesi in via di sviluppo. Nella Relazione trimestrale di Parmalat finanziaria al 30/9/03, in seguito a intervento Consob, viene segnalata ad esempio l'eccezione al rating A dei titoli Sires Star, inclusi nella voce obbligazioni, "emessi da società di diritto estero e sottoscritti nell'ambito di una operazione finanziaria con primaria istituzione bancaria internazionale".
Da una corrispondenza interna FERRARIS - DALL'OLIO21 (riepilogo liquidità al 31/12/02 base di lavoro per S&P) le informazioni sulla localizzazione degli investimenti in Attività finanziarie iscritte nell'attivo circolante sono ulteriormente differenziate come si evince dai seguenti dati:
DESCRIZIONE IMPORTO
Investiment Management account 810
Global liquidity fund2 505
Obbligazioni di società estere (non italiane) 200
Promissory notes private 143
Titoli di stato 120
Fondi comuni 275
Titoli assicurativi 165
Titoli bancari 195
Totale 2.413
1 Titoli di stato, coiporate obligation e obbligazioni emesse da istituti di credito internazionali. 2 Certificati di deposito, obbligazioni bancarie, commerciai paper.
21 BRANCA, Annotazione di P.G. del 2 marzo 2004 - Posta elettronica spedita o ricevuta dal dott. FERRARIS, allegato nr. 1 i - e-mail del 25/6/03.
10
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Tuttavia, nella Relazione Semestrale22, delle "Attività finanziarie che non costituiscono immobilizzazioni" (in merito a quanto esistente sempre al 31/12/02)23 se ne fornisce una ulteriore e diversa composizione come riportato di seguito.
Altre partecipazioni
Obbigazioni 853
Fondi d'investimento 505
Promìssory notes/commerciai paper 1.053
altri 2
Totale 2.413
Anche nelle comunicazioni a Consob di DELOITTE & TOUCHE (16/7/03)24 e di PARMALAT FINANZIARIA (23/7/03)25, fermo restando l'importo complessivo, il dettaglio delle "Attività finanziarie che non costituiscono immobilizzazioni" fornito da ciascun soggetto è, seppur marginalmente, differenziato oltre ad essere diverso da quanto rappresentato poi a beneficio del mercato e degli investitori nella Relazione trimestrale.
1.3. La "qualità" della presunta liquidità.
Al di là dei riscontri quantitativi delle poste di bilancio qualificate come "liquidità" un aspetto di rilievo non secondario è rappresentato dalla "qualità" delle attività e degli strumenti finanziari in cui la liquidità risulta investita. Gli elementi di valutazione sono infatti rappresentati dalla possibilità di concreta trasformazione delle attività qualificate come liquidità in mezzi monetari senza costi apprezzabili e con immediatezza (grado di liquidità o di Iiquidabilità) ed ancor prima dalla loro effettiva esistenza. Requisiti sui quali potevano essere sollevati dubbi per la contraddittorietà, per la differenziazione e per la scarsa trasparenza delle informazioni di volta in volta fornite. Dubbi che la Consob esprime sulla base della valutazione degli elementi economici, tecnici e giuridici in suo possesso già alla fine di luglio26: ".. .dalle note trasmesse dalla società agli organi di controllo si è rilevata la presenza di significative attività finanziarie caratterizzate da potenziali elementi di rischio: notevoli investimenti in tìtoli senza rating, concentrazione di
22 Parmalat finanziaria spa. Relazione Semestrale al 30/6/03 p. 44.(cfr anche Relazione trimestrale al 30/9/03 p. 11)
23 Pur contenuti nella relazione Semestrale al 30/6/03 i dati citati nel testo sono relativi al 31/12/02, riportati nella semestrale a titolo
di raccordo/confronto.
24 Consob, Relazione 3082946 del 23/12/03, oggetto: Segnalazioni di ipotesi penalmente rilevanti, - allegato 7 - tabella 3 - p. 4.
25 Consob, Relazione 3082946 del 23/12/03, oggetto: Segnalazioni di ipotesi penalmente rilevanti - allegato 9 - tabella 1 - p. 6
26 Consob, Relazione 3082946 del 23/12/03, oggetto: Segnalazioni di ipotesi penalmente rilevanti, allegato 88 - Relazione n.
031212O048 del 31/7/03 p. 14.
11
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rilevante liquidità in società controllate estere e off-shore? (depositi amministrati da due controllate olandesi e disponibilità liquide di Bonlat presso Bank of America) e ancora: " Sempre Bonlat è depositaria dì rilevanti attività finanziarie senza rating di cui particolare rilevanza va attribuita ad un investimento in un fondo comune denominato Epicurwn di cui non si conoscono le
caratteristiche di patrimonio sottostante"
Translation - English Into English (UK)
In the following exposition the subjects of liquidity and indebtedness (amount and composition) are treated, and, for the last year, the deficiencies in financial management with respect to liquidity position, relations with banks and bond issues.
1. Liquidity
1.1. Liquid assets and non-fixed financial assets posted to working capital of the consolidated financial statement of the Parmalat group
1.2. Methods of using liquidity: The contradictory nature of the information provided
1.3. The “quality” of the supposed liquidity.
1 See Letter of 19 December 2003 sent by the Consob to the State Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Parma regarding Parmalat Finanziaria SpA - Report to the authorities of suspicion of criminal activity, p. 3 pp. 1-2.
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1.1. Liquid assets and non-fixed financial assets posted to working capital of the consolidated financial statement of the Parmalat group
Liquid assets and non-fixed financial assets posted to working capital of the Parmalat group consolidated financial statement (or more simply just the “liquidity”) have been subject to close scrutiny as a result of the great (and unusual) magnitude they attained with time, at the same time as its debt grew to remarkable proportions. The amount of the group’s liquidity posted to the financial statement and shown in Table 1 reveals almost ceaseless and quite steady growth. Holdings in monetary instruments (in the form of active current accounts held at banks) and “potential” liquidity (in the form of financial instruments swiftly convertible into monetary instruments) appear unusual not so much because of the absolute values attained but above all with respect to the dynamic of other economic amounts in the balance sheet (Table 2). The magnitude and significance of this phenomenon is measured by the constant and rapid growth of the proportion of liquidity to turnover, to indebtedness and to net equity. Another weighty factor is the fact that since 1999 by using the available liquid assets it would have ideally been possible to purchase -- at their current market prices -- all outstanding shares of the parent company of the group, PARFIN. With respect to the two components (liquidity and financial assets posted in working capital) we may state that:
a) From a quantitative standpoint the fastest growth took place in the years 1994, 1996 and 1997;
b) Liquidity attained its maximum value in 2000;
e) in the latest period (2001-2003) the great immediate liquidity (cash and banks) was partly replaced by loans in the form of securities and other financial instruments. As explained in detail in other reports of the technical consultants, this substitution took place in the form of accounting manipulations intended to simulate an “active” management of uncollectible claims, of imaginary financial investments and non-existent liquidity.
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Table 1 – Parmalat group: Liquid and liquidable assets
Year Liquid assets Financial assets entered in working capital Liquidity and non-fixed financial assets
1990 63.0 1.2 64.2
1991 40.9 5.0 45.9
1992 98.2 5.7 103.9
1993 155.2 6.6 161.8
1994 287.8 46.5 334.3
1995 331.0 63.5 394.5
1996 583.9 179.9 763.8
1997 1,008.4 458.7 1,467.1
1995 1,131.1 708.4 1,839.5
1999 1,326.0 929.5 2,255.5
2000 1,920.5 782.2 2,702.7
2001 1,464.8 1,459.6 2,924.4
2002 950.6 2,412.9 3,363.6
30/6/2003 866.6 2,455.6 3,322.2
Source: Consolidated financial statement - Amounts in millions of euros
Seen through the official accounting, the asset structure of Parfin displays through time a configuration more like that of a financial firm (bank or financial company) that that of a manufacturing or commercial firm. As can be seen from the financial statement data, the particular financial structure of the group – characterised by high indebtedness coexisting with equally high liquidity – denotes significant levels of “financial intermediation” (collection and loaning of funds) that could not help but attract the attention of financial analysts, investors and financiers in general, for two kinds of reason: a) the “quality” of the investments made, as a result – apart from their actual existence -- of their specific capability of being transformed into monetary instruments at once and at no significant cost; b) the economic benefits obtainable by an intense funds procurement activity and the use of such funds in “financial assets” or in other words existence and measure of the difference between the profit from investments in liquid assets and the cost of procuring the money lent out.
2 In this respect CERVELLERA’s e-mail dated 18.3.03 is revealing, in which it is noted that since 2001 “contacts with the market have doubled as a result of increased need for information” See. PM: Ioffredi, SIT Cervellera del 27/2/04 - Attachments - p. 117.
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Table 2 – Parfin – Proportion of liquidity (liquidity and non-fixed financial assets)
Year Liquidity/Turnover Liquidity/Total debt Liquidity/Net equity Liquidity/Capitalisation
1990 11.3% 16.3% 16.2% 15.9%
1991 6.7% 10.3% 10.4% 12.4%
1992 12.3% 17.4% 21.8% 24.6%
1993 11.0% 15.6% 22.4% 12.6%
1994 17.9% 23.7% 44.1% 33.3%
1995 17.8% 23.6% 46.3% 49.2%
1996 27.1% 37.9% 64.9% 42.6%
1997 39.9% 43.1% 87.8% 76.2%
1998 36.2% 36.3% 93.3% 76.6%
1999 35.5% 35.4% 90.6% 116.1%
2000 36.8% 39.5% 102.2% 101.3%
2001 37.5% 42.5% 103.2% 120.8%
2002 44.3% 46.9% 149.5% 187.1%
Source: Consolidated financial statement - Market price of Parfin shares (stock market capitalisation at 31/12),
In the various documents that make up the financial statement (Report on Business and Notes particularly) the level of the information provided appears grossly insufficient, especially if measured against the magnitude of the liquidity phenomenon. Until 1998 the presence of more than 1 thousand million euros in cash was justified thus: “liquid assets result partly from transitory liquidity that accumulates at the end of the financial year as a result of financing received but not yet used”. Later, vastly greater amounts (for example 1,900 million euros in 2000) were laconically labelled “liquid assets held at banks”.
Regarding financial assets included in working capital, in Parmalat’s financial statement the following statement can be read: “They are mainly made up of other securities, principally government securities, securities issued by banks and bonds.” Nothing is said about their yield, which in view of their “low risk profile”, of the “primary market conditions” and the short maturities of the securities, could not be particularly high with respect to the costs of procurement (namely financing received). So much the more so since the financial statements always point out that “procurement business was effected primarily through placement of medium-term bonds issued by foreign subsidiaries,” foreshadowing a
3 Cfr. Consolidated financial statements 1998, p. 111 and 1997, p. 95.
4 Cfr. Consolidated financial statement 2001, p. 131.
5 Cfr. Consolidated financial statement 2001,
financial intermediary activity similar to that of a bank or financial institution. Such activity can nonetheless hardly be presented otherwise than in the guise of a “second-degree” intermediation, both because of the sources of money themselves (banks and banking and financial system) and because of the higher cost of funds collected by Parmalat than by professional operators like banks. In this respect the rating allotted Parmalat by Standard & Poor’s is on the lowest step of investment grade, indicating “still sufficient” solvency conditions and therefore a cost of capital proportional to such degree of risk. Even the presence of conditions of taxation particularly favourable and such as to render positive the difference between collection and net financial costs (interest earned on “liquid assets” and interest paid on debt net of tax benefits 7), is not in itself a decisive element both because of the persistence of high levels of liquidity and the magnitude of the profit. All the more so when profit is negative, as reported at the meeting with the analysts in April 2003, and justified as “costs of flexibility”. Noteworthy is finally that in messages to the market there are no direct or indirect references to concentration of the group’s liquidity in Bonlat.
1.2. Uses given to liquidity: The contradictory nature of the information supplied
Regarding the sparse information contained in the financial statements or otherwise supplied by Parmalat regarding such a weighty aspect of a company’s business, curiosity and research by investors and analysts – of additional, broader and detailed evidence on the methods in which liquidity was used, the nature of the instruments, its yield and possible risks appeared more than justified. This even taking into account the contradictory nature of some of the information supplied, sometimes reluctantly, especially during 2003. In this respect, without affecting the basic information contained in the consolidated financial statement regarding the amount of “liquidity”, from internal correspondence between Del Soldato and Ferraris it is evident that
The rating assigned is BBB-, as a synthesis of the risk profile described thus: “Still sufficient capacity to pay interest and capital. Nonetheless the presence of unfavourable economic conditions or a change in circumstances could greatly alter its ability to honour its debts normally.” The immediately following rating is reserved for so-called “speculative” investments.
Tax benefits obtainable through location of investments in so-called tax havens. Regarding the doubts of investors and analysts with respect to tax arbitrage, liquidity, in the sense that paid, Cfr. PM: loffredi, SIT Cervellera of 27/2/04 - Attachments - p. 211-213 (e-mail correspondence Cervellera-Parmalat management of 4/3/2003). also Branca, Annotation of P.G. of 2 March 2004 – E-mail sent or received by Dr. Ferraris, attachment no. 7 - e-mail of 24/10/03 (Sala, Ferraris, Del Soldato).
8 Cfr. Parmalat Group, FYE 2002 Results and Strategies, 10 April 2003, Milan - Slide 13.
9 The cash on hand allows the group to face without difficulties the maturity of 3,000 million euros in the three-year period 2003-2005. This flexibility will permit renegotiation for the re financing of the debt on favourable terms.” These are the words of Ferraris replying to Galbiati on 2/7/03. Cfr Cucinotta, SIT Bocchi G. of 13/2/04, e-mail of Galbiati.
10 BRANCA, Annotation of P.G. of 2 March 2004 - E-mail sent or received by Dr. Ferraris, attachment no. 7 e-mail of 21/5/03.
42 560
information on the location of investments are different “depending on the receiver of the information” as cited below:
“To auditors, in the balance sheets, liquidity is recorded as being in”:
Auditors table Millions of euros %
Italy 372 10.4%
Europe 368 10.3%
North America * 2,735 76.5%
Central America 69 1.9%
South America 9 0.3%
Africa 11 0.3%
Asia 2 0.1%
Australia 7 0.2%
Total 3,573 100%
* North America includes the Cayman Is,
"We told Standard &. Poor’s that the liquidity was being held in the following countries”
S&P table in%
Holland 17%
Malta 19%
Italy 8%
Channel Islands 8%
Cayman Islands 17%
Manda [sic] 6%
Luxembourg 12%
Others 13%
Total 100%
The figures in the tables (which refer not only to “immediate and potential liquidity” but also to investments in “other securities included in fixed financial assets”) are inconsistent. As a matter of fact, if in the “auditor table” from the quota of investments located in North America (76.5%) we subtract (on the basis of the figures in the “S&P table” ) the percentage of loans on the Cayman Islands (17%), the remainder, namely 59.5% is not traceable to any of the countries where the investments in the “S&P table” are allegedly located. In this regard we note that the CONSOB, as a result of a “great number of requests for figures, news and information made on approximately the same dates of managers, statutory auditors and auditing firms … of the Parmalat group” arrives at a summarisation.
11 Consob - Report 3082285 of 19/12/03; re: Parmalat Finanziaria- Report to authorities of suspicion of criminal activity. 2-3
of the liquidity situation at 31/12/02, underscoring the fact that the non-fixed financial assets “appeared to be” the following:
Parfin consolidation domain Bonlat1 % Bonlat
Liquid assets 951 436 45.8%
Securities posted to working capital 2,413 2,127 88.1%
Total € 3,364 2,563 76.2%
At 31/12/02
According to information Parfin sent the CONSOB on 21/7/03, the group’s liquidity (“cash”) at the end of 2002 and in March 2003 was recorded as being concentrated, apart from at Bonlat, in the two Dutch financial firms (Parmalat Finance Corporation BV and Parmalat Netherlands BV) as shown in the following table:
Parmalat group – Summary by depositary company of assets balances of current accounts at banks
Company at 31/12/02 at 31/12/03
Bonlat Financing Corporation 43(5 45.8% 645 68.3%
Parmalat Finanziaria SpA 3 0.3% 15 1.6%
Parmalat SpA 66 6.9% 68 7.2%
Parmalat Finance Corporation BV 191' 20.1% 117 12.4%
Parmalat Netherlands BV 112J 11.8% 10 1.1%
PDBI Liquidity Management Hungary 34 3.6% 0
Parmalat Dairy & Bakery 18 1.9% 0
Parmalat Food Inc, 0 -,- 23 2.4%
Indulac 3 0.3% 13 1.4%
TOTAL AT PRINCIPAL DEPOSITARIES12 863 90.7% 891 94.4%
Other companies 88 9.3% 53 5.6%
TOTAL LIQUIDITY 951 100.0% 944 100.0%
TOTAL LIQUIDITY EXCLUDING BONLAT 515 54.2% 299 31.7%
Amounts in millions of euros Principal amounts; of which 189 at San Paolo-IMI. of which 109 at San Paolo- IMI
The CONSOB was thus able to determine that “a large portion of the Parmalat group’s liquidity was concentrated at the Bonlat Financing Corporation, head office on the Cayman Is., a subsidiary controlled indirectly through the Parmalat SpA sub-group”11. In more detailed fashion, the “liquidity” of the Parmalat group traceable back to Bonlat was recorded as being distributed thus:
12 Consob - Report 3082946 of 23/12/03; re: Report to authorities concerning possible criminal activity - attachment 9 pp. 14-15; Detail//Breakdown
Of the depositaries of the group’s liquidity as a proportion of the principal amounts.
11 Consob - Report 3082285 of 19/12/03; re: Parmalat Finanziaria SpA - Report to authorities of suspicion of criminal activity, p. 3.
42 562
Liquid assets posted to the Bonlat balance sheet at 31/12/02
Current account at Bank of America 320
Cheques 116
Total € 436
Securities posted to working capital in Bonlat financial statement at 31/12/02
Securities deposited at Bank of America 819
Epicurum Fund 504
Promissory notes 804
Total € 2,127
The amount of “Bonlat liquidity” at 31/12/02 as determined by the CONSOB is different from that shown in the minutes of the Board of Statutory Auditors on 10/4/03 and in its attachment. “Bonlat liquidity” as stated in the Board of Statutory Auditors minutes, is restricted to “securities of working capital in portfolio of subsidiary Bonlat” and is valued at euro 2,374,373,114. The attachment indicates however that the currency unit should be USD, not euros. Furthermore, regardless of which unit of account is used, the figures from the Board of Statutory Auditors minutes are not confirmed by those of the CONSOB. As a matter of fact, converted into euros, the amount of the “securities in working capital” would be equal to 2,264 million, while in accordance with the CONSOB it would be 2,127. The correspondence of values is certainly detectable for the amount of the capital subscribed in the Epicurum Fund, namely 504 million euros (529/1.0487 = 504). In the Board of Statutory Auditors minutes indeed the reclassification of the promissory notes from working capital to fixed financial assets in the amount of USD 143 million or euro 120 million is ignored. This measure was proposed by Grant Thornton and accepted during consolidation of the balance sheet (as a matter of fact 2,374 – 143 = 2,231 USD from which 2,231/1.0487 = 2127).At the meeting with the financial analysts on 10/4/03 the information on liquidity appeared to be supplied basically as an illustration/commentary of the figures contained in the following table:
14 In particular, p. 02 of the minutes of 10/4/03 the Board of Statutory Auditors Parmalat Finanziaria spa, Meeting with the auditing firms Deloitte and Grant Thornton: Request for information on Notes about group’s liquidity.
15 Document “Re Bonlat Securities”, sent on 14 April 2003 via fax from Grant Thornton SpA by Dr. Verde to Dr. Brughera.
16 The CONSOB – Report 3082285 of 19/12/03; re: Parmalat Finanziaria spa-Report to the authorities of suspicion of criminal activity, p.3; p. 3.
17 Capital gains on euro/USD exchange rate of 1.0487 of 31/12/02 as in quotations used in conversion of balance sheets on pp.
112-113 of the Parmalat Finanziaria SpA consolidated financial statement – printed version.
18 Capital gains on euro/USD exchange rate of 1.0487 of 31/12/02 as in quotations used in conversion of balance sheets on pp.
112-113 of the Parmalat Finanziaria SpA consolidated financial statement – printed version
19 The CONSOB Report 3082946 of 23/12/03, re: Report to the authorities of suspicion of criminal activity, p.3 - attachment 19, pp. 6-7: Bonlat – Memo.
20 Parmalat Group, FYE 2002 Results and Strategies, 10 April 2003, Milan - Slide 12
42 £63
Liquid assets 950 26.6%
Financial assets posted to working capital* 2,413 67.5%
Other securities posted to financial fixed assets 210 5.9%
Total 3,573 100.0%
* Bank securities, common monetary funds, government securities (LDCs), international bonds (rated class A),
In addition to the absence of any other apparent detailed quantitative elements, the note wherein the statement about “government securities” appears followed by “LDCs” – for lack of any specification – on the one hand, makes it difficult to reconcile the statement in question with the geographical location of the investments in the preceding tables (one disclosed to the auditing firms and the other to Standard & Poor's rating agency) and, on the other, tends to generate additional doubts and irritation over the quality of the loans (claimed in financial statement as “rated A”) in LDCs. In Parmalat Finanziaria’s quarterly report of 30/9/03, after the CONSOB’s action, an objection is registered to the A rating of Sires Star securities, included in the item bonds “issued by companies under foreign law and underwritten in the framework of a financial operation with a major international banking institution”.
From the Ferraris-Dall’Olio internal correspondence (summary of liquidity at 31/12/02 -- starting point for S&P) the information on location of investments in “Financial assets posted to working capital” is further differentiated as can be seen from the following figures:
DESCRIPTION AMOUNT
Investment Management Account 810
Global liquidity fund2 505
Bonds of foreign (non-Italian ) companies 200
Promissory notes private 143
Government securities 120
Mutual funds 275
Insurance securities 165
Bank securities 195
Total 2,413
1 Government securities, corporate bonds and bonds issued by international credit institutes. 2 Certificates of deposit, bank bonds, commercial paper.
21 BRANCA, Annotation of P.G. of 2 March 2004 - Also Branca, Annotation of P.G. f 2 March 2004 - E-mail sent or received by Dr. Ferraris, attachment no. 7- e-mail of 24/10/03 (Sala, Ferraris, Del Soldato) the e-mails of 25/6/03.
10
42 564
However in the half-yearly report22, an additional and different composition of the non-fixed financial assets (also referring to what existed at 31/12/02)23 is given, as cited below.
Other equity investments
Bonds 853
Investment funds 505
Promissory notes/Commercial paper 1,053
Others 2
Total 2,413
Likewise in messages to the CONSOB from Deloitte & Touche (16/7/03)24 and from Parmalat Finanziaria (23/7/03)25, without affecting the aggregate amount, the breakdown of “non-fixed financial assets” supplied by each company is, if only marginally, differentiated, in addition to being different from what was later claimed in the Quarterly Report for the benefit of the market and investors.
1.3. The “quality” of the supposed liquidity.
Regardless of quantitative comparisons of those balance sheet entries that are characterised as “liquidity”, a major aspect that is not of secondary importance is represented by the “quality” of the assets and financial instruments in which the liquidity is invested. The value of liquid assets depends -- even more than on their actual existence -- on their ability to be converted into monetary instruments swiftly and without significant costs (degree of liquidity or of liquidability). Doubts could be raised regarding fulfilment of these requirements as a result of the contradictory nature, differentiation by addressee and lack of transparency of the information supplied from time to time. The CONSOB indeed expressed such doubts in view of its assessment of the economic, technical and legal factors in its possession already at the end of July26: "... From the notes sent by the company to the auditing firms we have determined the presence of significant financial assets characterised by factors of potential risk: Sizable investments in securities without ratings, concentration of
22 Parmalat finanziaria spa. Half-yearly Report of 30/6/03, p. 44 (cfr. also Quarterly Report of 30/9/03, p. 11.
23 Although contained in the Half-Yearly Report of 30/6/03 the figures cited in the text refer to 31/12/02, cited in the Half-Yearly Report for purposes of comparison.
24 The CONSOB, Report 3082946 of 23/12/03, re: Report to the authorities of suspicion of criminal activity, p.3 Attachment 7 - Table 3, p. 4.
25 The CONSOB, Report 3082946 of 23/12/03, re: Report to the authorities of suspicion of criminal activity, p.3 Attachment 9 - Table 1, p. 6.
26 The CONSOB, Report 3082946 of 23/12/03, re: Report to the authorities of suspicion of criminal activity, p.3, Attachment 88 - Report no. 0312120048 of 31/7/03, p.14.
11
42 565
substantial liquidity in foreign offshore subsidiaries? (deposits managed by two Netherlands subsidiaries and liquid assets of Bonlat at Bank of America) and in addition: “Bonlat is still the depositary of large financial assets without ratings whose particular importance is attributed to an [their?] investment in a mutual fund called Epicurum, the characteristics of whose underlying assets is unknown”.
German to English: Social Insurance Glossary
Source text - German ‘Glossar
Status Aug. 7 2006: ready for translation, putting on web
A
AHV
Eidgenössische Alters- und Hinterlassenenversicherung, versichert die gesamte Bevölkerung in der Schweiz. Sie richtet folgende Leistungen aus: Altersrenten, Witwen- und Witwerrenten, Kinder- und Waisenrenten. Die Renten haben zum Ziel, das Existenzminimum abzudecken.
Allgemeiner Teil des Sozialversicherungsrechts
Siehe ATSG
Altersguthaben
Die Summe aller Altersgutschriften inkl. Zinsen, eingebrachte Freizügigkeitsleistungen und Einkäufe. Das Altersguthaben stellt im Beitragsprimat normalerweise das Freizügigkeitsguthaben dar. Ebenfalls ist es die Basis zur Berechnung der Altersrente.
Altersgutschriften
Jener Teil der Beiträge, die der Versicherte und der Arbeitgeber einzahlen, welche im Sinne eines Sparvorgangs für die Äufnung des Altersguthabens verwendet werden. Die Beiträge sind in Prozenten des versicherten Lohnes definiert und steigen im Alter an.
Daneben fallen auch Risikoprämien und Verwaltungskosten an, die vollständig von der HP Pensionskasse übernommen werden.
Altersrente
In der HP Pensionskasse ist der Altersrücktritt ab dem vollendeten 58. Altersjahr möglich. Die Altersrente berechnet sich aufgrund des vorhandenen Altersguthabens, welches mit dem Umwandlungssatz zwischen 5,75 (Alter 58) und 6,8% (Alter 65) in eine Rente umgewandelt wird. Sie wird lebenslänglich ausgerichtet.
Arbeitsunfähigkeit
Teilweiser oder totaler Verlust der Arbeitsfähigkeit im bisherigen Beruf. Die Arbeitsfähigkeit ist gesundheitlich (körperlich oder psychisch) beeinträchtigt.
Arbeitgebervertreter
Von HP in den Stiftungsrat der Pensionskasse entsandte Vertreter. Die Zusammensetzung des Stiftungsrates ist paritätisch zwischen Arbeitgeber und Arbeitnehmer geregelt
Arbeitnehmervertreter
Die Versicherten werden durch die Arbeitnehmervertreter im Stiftungsrat der Pensionskasse vertreten. Die Wahl der Arbeitnehmervertreter erfolgt durch die Versicherten. Die Zusammensetzung des Stiftungsrates ist paritätisch zwischen Arbeitgeber und Arbeitnehmer geregelt. Die Amtsdauer der Arbeitsnehmervertreter beträgt 4 Jahre. Arbeitnehmervertreter werden gesamtschweizerisch gewählt, wobei immer mind. je 2 Vertreter aus der deutschen und der französischen Sprachregion stammen müssen. Pensionierte sind durch einen Beisitzer im Stiftungsrat vertreten.
ATSG
Allgemeiner Teil des Sozialversicherungsrechts: Gesetz, welches die Handhabung der Sozialversicherungen vereinheitlichen soll. Es sind vor allem Harmonisierungs- und Koordinierungsregeln, die für alle Sozialversicherungsgesetze gelten, soweit das Einzelgesetz dies so vorsieht. Die berufliche Vorsorge ist nicht Teil des ATSG, hingegen sind punktuelle Regelungen zu beachten.
Auffangeinrichtung BVG
Ist in der Form einer Stiftung gegründet worden. Sie übernimmt die Zwangsversicherung für Angestellte von Arbeitgebern, die sich keiner Vorsorgeeinrichtung anschliessen wollen oder sich auf Antrag der Auffangeinrichtung unterstellen wollen. Sie versichert Personen, die Arbeitslosentaggelder beziehen, für die Risiken Tod und Invalidität.
Die Auffangeinrichtung nimmt Freizügigkeitsleistungen von Personen entgegen, die keine Angaben gemacht haben, was mit ihrer Freizügigkeitsleistung geschehen soll.
Austrittsleistung
Siehe Freizügigkeitsleistung
Ausweise
Versicherungsausweis
Dieses Dokument wird den versicherten Personen am Anfang jedes Kalenderjahres zugestellt. Auf dem Ausweis sind die persönlichen Angaben der versicherten Person vermerkt. Weiter sind die aktuellen Lohnangaben , die jährlichen Beiträge, die voraussichtlichen Alters- und Versicherungsleistungen ersichtlich.
Renten-Bescheinigung
Dieser Ausweis wird jeweils anfangs Jahr an die Leistungsbegünstigten versandt. Er dient dem Nachweis der erhaltenen Leistungen im Vorjahr für die Deklaration gegenüber der Steuerverwaltung.
Renten-Ausweis
Die Renten-Orientierung wird einerseits beim Beginn des Anspruchs einer Rente erstellt und andererseits erfolgt der Versand jährlich anfangs Jahr. Er gibt Auskunft über die Rentenzahlungen während des laufenden Kalenderjahres. Nebst dem eigentlichen Rentenbetrag sind auch die allfälligen Rentenverbesserungen ersichtlich. Auf der Rückseite sind die einzelnen Valutadaten und die Bankverbindung der Leistungsberechtigten ersichtlich.
B
Barauszahlung
Ein Barbezug der gesamten Freizügigkeitsleistung bei Austritt aus der Firma ist nur unter drei Voraussetzungen möglich:
1. wenn die anspruchsberechtigte versicherte Person die Schweiz endgültig verlässt. Dazu hat sie den Nachweis zu erbringen, dass sie sich definitiv in der Schweiz abgemeldet und einen neuen Wohnsitz im Ausland aufgenommen hat.
2. wenn sich die anspruchsberechtigte versicherte Person selbstständig macht. Der Nachweis hat durch die Bestätigung der AHV-Ausgleichskasse (selbstständig erwerbend im Haupterwerb) zu erfolgen.
3. wenn die Austrittsleistung weniger als einen Arbeitnehmer-Jahresbeitrag ausmacht
Die Barauszahlung ist unzulässig, wenn eine versicherte Person die Schweiz endgültig verlässt und in Liechtenstein wohnt. Versicherte können die Barauszahlung im Umfang des vorhandenen BVG-Altersguthabens nicht verlangen, wenn sie nach den Rechtsvorschriften eines Mitgliedstaates der Europäischen Union oder nach den isländischen oder norwegischen Rechtsvorschriften für die Risiken Alter, Tod und Invalidität weiterhin obligatorisch versichert bleiben.
Begünstigungsordnung
Begünstigt ist in erster Linie die versicherte Person selbst, ihr Ehegatte und ihre Kinder im Rahmen der Unterhaltspflicht. Fehlen diese, kann eine aktiv versicherte Person in der HP Pensionskasse für den Fall ihres vorzeitigen Todes die Reihenfolge der Begünstigten für das Todesfallkapital beeinflussen. Sie hat zu Lebzeiten eine begünstigte Person, welche sie wesentlich unterstützt, anzumelden. Sofern beim Tod keine Hinterlassenenleistungen (Ehegattenrente, Waisenrenten) fällig werden, kann das Todesfallkapital an die angemeldete, begünstigte Person ausgerichtet werden. Personen, die für eine Lebenspartnerrente vorgeschlagen sind, gelten bei Ablehnung des Rentenanspruchs als Begünstigte für das Todesfallkapital.
Beiträge
Die Beiträge der Arbeitsnehmer und die Altersgutschriften sind in Prozenten des versicherten Lohnes festgelegt. Sie gelten für Männer und Frauen. Die Beiträge setzen sich aus den Altersgutschriften, den Risikobeiträgen und den Verwaltungskostenbeiträgen zusammen. Die Beiträge sind nach Alterskategorien gestaffelt.
Versicherte können jeweils im Dezember wählen, ob sie im nächsten Kalenderjahr unter dem Plan Standard oder Plan Standard Plus Beiträge leisten wollen.
Translation - English A
AHV/AVS Swiss Federal Old Age and Survivors Insurance, which insures the whole population of Switzerland. It offers the following benefits: retirement pensions, widows’ and widowers’ pensions, children’s and orphans’ pensions. The pensions are intended to cover minimum living expenses.
General Part of Social Insurance Law See ATSG/?
Retirement Assets The sum of all retirement credits including interest, FZL/PLP that have been provided and any purchases that have been made of supplementary coverage. Retirement assets usually make up the FZL/PLP in cash balance plans. Likewise they are the basis for reckoning the amount of a retirement pension.
Retirement Credits The part of contributions paid by the insured and the insured’s employer, which like savings goes toward the amassing of retirement assets. Contributions are defined in terms of a percentage of the insured salary and rise with increasing age. There are additional costs in the form of risk premiums and administrative expenses. These are all paid in full by the HP Pension Fund.
Retirement Pension The HP Pension Fund allows retirement on grounds of age starting at the age of 58. The amount of a retirement pension is reckoned by multiplying existing retirement assets by a conversion rate that lies between 5.75% for those retiring at the age of 58 and 6.8% if one retires at the age of 65. It is paid as long as the beneficiary lives.
Disability Partial or complete disablement in one's current occupation Ability to work is impaired by poor health, either physical or mental.
Employer Representatives
Representatives that speak for HP in the board of the pension fund. The board is composed of an equal number of representatives of employer and employees.
Employee Representatives
The employee representatives speak for the insured in the board of the pension fund. The employee representatives are chosen by the insured. The board is composed of an equal number of representatives of employer and employees. Employee representatives serve for a term of four years. Employee representatives are elected in a single vote for all Switzerland. Two representatives each must come from the German-speaking and French-speaking areas. Persons receiving pensions are represented in the board.
ATSG/?
General Part of Social Insurance Law
A statute that was enacted to unify the modes of operation of social insurance schemes. It consists mostly of rules intended to standardize and coordinate social insurance matters. It governs the application of any law relating to social insurance if the language of the law in question so provides. The GPSIL does not apply to social insurance schemes organized within the framework of employment with the exception of a certain number of its provisions.
BVG/LPP, a Safety net Institution BVG/LPP [Federal Act on Employment-Related Pension Plans for Old Age, Survivors and the Disabled] was created in the form of a foundation. It is the carrier of mandatory insurance for those who work for employers which are unwilling to join a pension fund or which apply for coverage by the safety net organization. It is in charge of life and disability insurance for persons who receive a daily allowance.
The safety net organization accepts FZL/PLP from persons who have failed to give instructions on what is to be done with their FZL/PLP.
Exit Benefit See FZL/PLP
Periodic Notices Insurance Notice
This document is sent to insured persons at the beginning of each calendar year. The notice states the insured’s personal data. Furthermore current figures are reported on salary, annual contributions and likely future contributions and insurance benefits.
Pension Statement
This statement is sent at the beginning of each year to beneficiaries. Its purpose is to certify the benefits received in the previous year for tax return purposes.
Pension Information Sheet
A person receives the pension information sheet on becoming entitled to a pension and then at the beginning of each subsequent year. It informs the beneficiary of pension payments that will be made in the current year. In addition to the actual amount of the pension it reports any forthcoming increases. The reverse shows the money amounts and the beneficiary’s bank account information.
B
Lump-Sum Payment Only if three conditions are fulfilled may the FZL/PLP be paid in a lump sum when the insured leaves an employer.
1. If the insured entitled to the benefits is leaving Switzerland permanently. To do this the insured must submit evidence of having been stricken from the register of inhabitants of Switzerland and that he or she has moved into a new home abroad.
2. If the insured entitled to benefits becomes self-employed. This circumstance must be proved through a certificate from the AHV/AVS compensation fund to the effect that the insured has become self-employed with respect to his or her principal gainful activity.
3. If the amount of the exit sum is less than the annual contribution of an employee.
No lump-sum payment may be made to persons leaving Switzerland permanently to take up residence in the Principality of Liechtenstein. Insured persons are not entitled to lump-sum payment in the amount of the existing BVG/LPP retirement assets if under the law of a member state of the EU or of Norway or Iceland they are obligated to remain insured against the risks of old age, death and disability.
Order of Succession of Beneficiaries The person entitled is first and foremost the insured person and his or her spouse and children in accordance with the duty of support. If no such persons exist, a person actively insured in the HP Pension Fund may have a say in the succession of persons entitled to benefits if the insured dies prematurely. While still alive the insured must designate a beneficiary, whose living costs must be substantially borne by the insured. If at the time of death no survivor benefits accrue (namely pensions for spouse or orphans), the death benefit may be paid out to the designated beneficiary. A person who has been proposed but rejected for entitlement to a pension as a partner is considered eligible to receive the death benefits.
Contributions An employee contributions and retirement credits are defined as a percentage of the insured salary. They apply both to men and women. The contributions are made up of retirement credits, risk contributions and administrative cost contributions. The amount of contributions depends on the age of the insured. Every December each insured may elect to pay contributions in the forthcoming year either according to the standard or the standard plus schemes.
German to English: Contract for Medical Teatment
Source text - German
Therapievereinbarung
zwischen
Herrn/Frau _________________, _____________, ______________, geb. ____________ und der Firma Grossmuth GmbH, vertreten durch die Geschäftsführung, wird folgender Vertrag geschlossen:
§1 Vertragsgegenstand
Vertragsgegenstand ist das visuelle Trainingsprogramm „Tannenwald“ (Onlinetherapie für diffuse Gesichtsfeldausfälle), welches von der Grossmuth GmbH für den Vertragszeitraum bereitgestellt wird.
Ein Erfolg (i.S. einer Wiederherstellung oder Verbesserung der Sehkraft durch die Therapie) wird nicht geschuldet. Eine Zusicherung wird somit nicht abgegeben, Grossmuth ist insofern nur zu einem korrekten fachlichen Bemühen verpflichtet.
Vor Beginn der Therapie erfolgt eine Befunderhebung durch das Klinikum Bergmannsheil oder eine andere vereinbarte Stelle, welche die grundsätzliche Therapiefähigkeit des Kunden ausweist.
In den Leistungen des Anbieters sind enthalten:
• Einweisung in das Therapieprogramm,
• Überlassung der Software auf Datenträger,
• regelmäßige Auswertung und Kontrolle des Therapieverlaufs;
gegebenenfalls Neueinstellung / Anpassung des Trainingsprogramms,
• kostenlose fachliche und technische Betreuung während des Therapiezeitraums mittels einer telefonischen Hotline und E-Mailing,
• notfalls technischer Service vor Ort durch die technische Abteilung der Grossmuth GmbH,
• notfalls technischer Service vor Ort durch einen von Grossmuth beauftragten Dienstleister, hierfür sind die Kosten gesondert zu tragen,
• Bereitstellung der Kinnstütze und der Abstandshalterung.
Auf Wunsch und nach Einzelvereinbarung stellt der Anbieter die notwendige Hardware
(Computer, Monitor, Tastatur) gegen zusätzliches Entgelt und gemäß eines Zusatzvertrages bereit.
Grossmuth weist daraufhin, dass der optimale Therapieerfolg nur erzielt werden kann, wenn der
Kunde ein tägliches Training durchführt.
§ 2 Vertragsdauer
Die Vertragspartner vereinbaren die Sehtherapie für die Dauer von sechs Monaten. Der
Therapiezeitraum beginnt am ___________ und endet zum _________.
Bei Bestehen persönlicher Hinderungsgründe (Krankheit, Umzug und in sonstigen
Härtefällen), die einen Zeitraum von 14 Tagen übersteigen, kann der Vertrag im
Einvernehmen mit der Grossmuth für eine bestimmte Zeit ausgesetzt werden. Das Vorliegen des persönlichen Hindernisses muss in geeigneter Form glaubhaft gemacht werden (ärztliches Attest, Kopie der Ummeldebestätigung oder ähnliches). Der Therapiezeitraum verlängert sich in diesem Fall um die vereinbarte Zeitspanne.
Der Kunde kann diesen Vertrag erstmals bis zum Ende des ersten Monats mit Wirkung zum Ablauf des darauf folgenden Monats der Vertragslaufzeit kündigen. Dieses Recht steht dem Kunden während der gesamten Vertragslaufzeit zu.
Die Kündigung muss bei der Firma Grossmuth GmbH bis zum letzten Werktag des Monats eingegangen sein.
Die außerordentliche Kündigung wegen Nichterfüllung der vertraglichen Hauptpflichten ist jederzeit möglich. Eine Frist ist dabei nicht einzuhalten.
Die Vertragsaufhebung sowie eine außerordentliche bzw. ordentliche Kündigung des Vertrages haben schriftlich zu erfolgen. Für den Fall der einvernehmlichen Aufhebung des Vertrages und der vorzeitigen Kündigung seitens des Kunden werden diesem die Kosten für die Nichtinanspruchnahme der Behandlung anteilsmäßig erstattet. Eine eventuell hierdurch entstehende Überzahlung wird seitens der GROSSMUTH GmbH an den Kunden zurück überwiesen.
Der Vertrag kann nach schriftlicher Absprache verlängert werden.
§ 3 Vergütung
Die Gesamtkosten für die genannten Leistungen betragen _________, zahlbar in sechs gleichen Raten zu Euro _______ netto zuzüglich 16% MwSt. (Euro _____) = Euro ______ brutto je Monat, beginnend im März 2006. Die Raten sind am 15. März, 15. April, 15. Mai, 15. Juni, 15. Juli, 15. August 2006 in Höhe von jeweils Euro ________ zu entrichten.
§ 4 Rückgabepflicht
Der Kunde verpflichtet sich, die von Grossmuth GmbH für die Therapie zur Verfügung gestellten Gegenstände (Kinnstütze, Abstandshalterung, Disketten) nach Ablauf der Vertragsdauer zurück zu senden. Die Rücksendefrist beträgt 2 Wochen; die Kosten der Rücksendung trägt die Grossmuth GmbH.
§ 5 Reisekosten
Seine eventuell anfallenden Reisekosten hat der Kunde zu tragen.
§ 6 Vervielfältigungsverbot
Auch Software wird durch die Bestimmungen des Urheberrechtes vor unberechtigtem
Gebrauch geschützt.
Der Kunde hat dafür Sorge zu tragen, dass keine weiteren Personen das Therapieprogramm verwenden.
Alle Rechte, insbesondere das Recht auf Vervielfältigung und Verbreitung der
Trainingsprogramme, bleiben dem Anbieter vorbehalten.
Kein Teil des Programms darf in irgendeiner Form ohne schriftliche Genehmigung der Grossmuth GmbH reproduziert oder unter Verwendung elektronischer Systeme gespeichert, verarbeitet oder verbreitet werden.
Dem Kunden ist die Nutzung des Trainingsprogramms ausschließlich zum bestimmungsgemäßen Gebrauch gestattet.
§ 7 Haftung
Für Mängel seiner Leistungen gemäß § 1 dieses Vertrages haftet der Anbieter nach
Maßgabe der gesetzlichen Bestimmungen.
Bei leichter Fahrlässigkeit haftet der Anbieter nur bei Verletzung vertragswesentlicher
Pflichten.
Im übrigen ist die vorvertragliche, vertragliche und außervertragliche Haftung des Anbieters auf Vorsatz und grobe Fahrlässigkeit beschränkt. Die Haftungsbeschränkung gilt auch im Falle des Verschuldens eines Erfüllungsgehilfen des Anbieters.
§ 8 Schlussbestimmungen
Sollten eine oder mehrere Bestimmungen dieses Vertrages, gleichgültig aus welchem Grund, unwirksam sein, so wird die Gültigkeit der übrigen Vertragsbestimmungen dadurch nicht berührt. Die Vertragspartner verpflichten sich, solche unwirksamen Bestimmungen und eventuell sich zeigende weitere Lücken der vertraglichen Absprache durch neue, wirksame Vereinbarungen zu ersetzen, die dem Vertragszweck möglich nahe kommen.
Mündliche Nebenabreden haben keine Gültigkeit. Die Vertragspartner erklären, solche auch bisher nicht getroffen zu haben. Änderungen und Ergänzungen dieses Vertrages bedürfen zu ihrer Wirksamkeit der Schriftform. Dies gilt ausdrücklich auch für die Aufhebung dieser Klausel.
Bochum, 22.02.2006
__________________ ____________________ Ort, Datum Ort, Datum
__________________ _____________________ Unterschrift / Stempel der Grossmuth GmbH Unterschrift des Kunden
Der Kunde erklärt mit seiner Unterschrift, dass er über die Risiken der Therapie bei fotosensibler Epilepsie und das potentielle Risiko einer Anfallsauslösung informiert wurde und nicht hierunter leidet. Besondere Vorkommnisse im Umgang mit dem Trainingprogramm sind Grossmuth nicht bekannt.
______________ _________________________ Ort, Datum Unterschrift des Kunden
Hiermit erkläre ich mein Einverständnis damit, dass die Mitarbeiter der Grossmuth und die Ärzte der Berufsgenossenschaftlichen Kliniken Bergmannsheil, die über mich zum Zwecke der Behandlung mit der visuellen Sehtherapie Curavis/Tannenwald/OTCB erhobenen medizinischen Daten, zum Zwecke der Weiterbehandlung, an Klinik _________, Herrn/Frau ________, unter Berücksichtigung der einschlägigen datenschutzrechtlichen Gesetze und Vorschriften, weiterleiten dürfen.
Ich bin darüber informiert worden, dass ich diese Entbindung von der Schweigepflicht mit
Wirkung für die Zukunft, jederzeit widerrufen kann.
______________ _________________________ Ort, Datum Unterschrift des Kunden
Translation - English
Treatment Agreement
between
Mr/Ms ______________________________________________, born ______________ and Grossmuth GmbH, represented by its management, the following contract is concluded:
§1 Object of the contract
The object of the contract the Tannenwald visual training program (online therapy for diffuse failures of field of vision) provided by Grossmuth GmbH for the contractual period.
No success (namely restoration of improvement of vision as a result of the therapy) is guaranteed. Consequently no assurance is given. Grossmuth is thus obligated only to provide correct specialised efforts.
Before therapy begins, Bergmannsheil Clinic or another agreed-upon institution will certify that the customer is in principle capable of receiving therapy.
Provider’s performance will include:
• Admission to the therapy programme,
• Supply of the software on an appropriate medium,
• Regular evaluations and verification of the course of treatment,
If required, an adjustment/ adaptation of the programme,
• Specialised and technical care free of charge during the treatment period by means of a telephone hot line and e-mail,
• If required technical service on location by the technical department of Grossmuth GmbH,
• If needed technical service on location by a service provider engaged by Grossmuth; this is billed separately,
• Provision of the chin support.
At the patient’s request a special agreement may be concluded by which the supplier provides the necessary hardware
(computer, monitor, keyboard) for an additional fee and pursuant to a supplementary contract.
Grossmuth points out that optimal outcome of the treatment can only be attained if the
Customer performs daily training exercises.
Section 2 Duration of Contract
The parties to the contract stipulate the vision therapy for the duration of six months. The
therapy period shall commence on _______________ and conclude on _______________.
If the customer is prevented from undergoing treatment because of illness, change in place of residence or other
situations of hardship that last more than 14 days, the contract may be
Suspended for a certain time with Grossmuth’s acquiescence. The existence of such a preventing circumstance must proven by credible evidence (medical certificate, copy of re-registration of address other similar).
In such case the period of treatment is prolonged by the time agreed upon.
The customer may terminate this contract at the earliest at the end of the first month of the contractual period, effective the end of the following month. The customer retains this right during the whole period of treatment.
The motive of termination must be received by Grossmuth GmbH by the last working day of the month.
However it is possible to effect extraordinary termination on grounds of non-fulfilment of the principal contractual obligations. In this case no waiting period is required.
Cancellation of the contract and extraordinary or regular termination of the contract must be done in writing. In the case of consensual cancellation of the contract and premature termination by the customer, an amount of the costs will be reimbursed proportional to the duration of treatment that is not performed. Grossmuth will reimburse any overpayment that may arise as a result.
The contract may be extended by written agreement.
Section 3 Reimbursement
Total costs for aforementioned services amount to ________ payable in six equal instalments of _______ euros plus 16% valued added tax (________ euros) = ______ euros gross per month, commencing in March of 2006. The instalments must be paid on the 15th of March, 15th of April, 15th of May, 15th of June, 15th of July, 15th of August, each time in the amount of ___euros.
Section 4 Duty to return equipment
The customer undertakes to send back to Grossmuth GmbH the items placed at customer’s disposal for purposes of therapy (chin support, diskettes) once the contract has expired. The customer must send them back within 2 weeks; Grossmuth GmbH will bear the costs of shipment.
Section 5 Travel expenses
Any travel expenses that may be required must be paid by the customer.
Section 6 Prohibition of reproduction
Among other things, software is protected by the provisions of copyright law from unauthorised use.
.
The customer must ensure that no other persons use the treatment programme.
All rights, especially the right to reproduction and distribution of the
Training programmes, remain the property of the provider.
No portion of the programme may, without Grossmuth GmbH’s consent, be reproduced or stored, processed or distributed by means of any electronic system.
The customer may use the training programme exclusively for the purposes for which it is intended.
Section 7 Liability
Provider is liable for deficiencies in the fulfilment of its obligations under Section 1 of this contract in
Accordance with the provisions of law.
IN the case of minor negligence provider is liable only if fundamental
Contractual obligations have been breached.
In other respects liability before the contract, under the contract and outside the contract is limited to intent and gross negligence. Limitation of liability remains valid likewise if an agent of provider is at fault.
Section 8 Final provisions
If one or more provisions of this contract is or becomes void for whatever reason, validity of the remaining provisions is not affected thereby. The parties to the contract undertake to replace any such void provisions and any further gaps in the contractual agreement by new and effective provisions that are as close as possible to the purpose of the contract.
Any additional covenants that are not in written form shall be void. The parties to the contract declare that they have hither to made no such covenants. In order to be effective, any amendment and supplementation to this contract must be in writing. This is expressly stipulated with respect to annulment of this clause.
Bochum, 22.02.2006
__________________ Place, date Place, date
__________________ Signature/Stamp of Grossmuth GmbH Customer’s signature
By affixing his/her signature, customer assures that he/she has been warned of the risks of treatment should he or she suffer from photosensitive epilepsy and the possible risk of a seizure being provoked, and that he or she does not suffer from such disorder. Grossmuth is not aware of any extraordinary events associated with use of the training programme.
______________ Place, date Customer’s signature
I hereby give my consent to the passing on of any medically relevant information about me that may be determined by employees of Grossmuth GmbH or the physicians of the Bergmannsheil Cooperative Clinics for purposes of treatment with the Curavis/Tannenwald/OTCB visual vision therapy to the Mr./Ms. ____________ of the _________ Clinic in accordance with pertinent laws and regulations governing the protection of personal information.
I have been informed that I may at any time revoke this release from the duty of confidentiality,
With prospective effect.
______________ Place, date Customer’s signature
German to Spanish: Contrato comercial
Source text - German ABC übernimmt keinerlei Gewähr für die Aktualität, Korrektheit, Vollständigkeit oder Qualität der bereitgestellten Informationen. Haftungsansprüche gegen ABC, welche sich auf Schäden materieller oder ideeller Art beziehen, die durch die Nutzung oder Nichtnutzung der dargebotenen Informationen bzw. durch die Nutzung fehlerhafter und unvollständiger Informationen verursacht wurden, sind grundsätzlich ausgeschlossen, sofern seitens ABC kein nachweislich vorsätzliches oder grob fahrlässiges Verschulden vorliegt.
Alle Angebote sind freibleibend und unverbindlich. ABC behält es sich ausdrücklich vor, Teile der Seiten oder das gesamte Angebot ohne gesonderte Ankündigung zu verändern, zu ergänzen, zu löschen oder die Veröffentlichung zeitweise oder endgültig einzustellen.
2. Verweise und Links
Bei direkten oder indirekten Verweisen auf fremde Internetseiten ("Links"), die außerhalb des Verantwortungsbereiches von ABC liegen, würde eine Haftungsverpflichtung ausschließlich in dem Fall in Kraft treten, in dem ABC von der Rechtswidrigkeit der Inhalte Kenntnis hat und es ihr technisch möglich und zumutbar wäre, die Nutzung im Falle rechtswidriger Inhalte zu verhindern.
ABC erklärt daher ausdrücklich, dass zum Zeitpunkt der Linksetzung die entsprechenden verlinkten Seiten frei von illegalen Inhalten waren. ABC hat keinerlei Einfluss auf die aktuelle und zukünftige Gestaltung und auf die Inhalte der gelinkten/verknüpften Seiten. Deshalb distanziert er sich hiermit ausdrücklich von allen Inhalten aller gelinkten/verknüpften Seiten, die nach der Linksetzung verändert wurden. Diese Feststellung gilt für alle innerhalb des eigenen Internetangebotes gesetzten Links und Verweise sowie für Fremdeinträge in vom Autor eingerichteten Gästebüchern, Diskussionsforen und Mailinglisten. Für illegale, fehlerhafte oder unvollständige Inhalte und insbesondere für Schäden, die aus der Nutzung oder Nichtnutzung solcherart dargebotener Informationen entstehen, haftet allein der Anbieter der Seite, auf welche verwiesen wurde, nicht derjenige, der über Links auf die jeweilige Veröffentlichung lediglich verweist.
3. Urheber- und Kennzeichenrecht
ABC ist bestrebt, in allen Publikationen die Urheberrechte der verwendeten Grafiken, Tondokumente, Videosequenzen und Texte zu beachten, von ihm selbst erstellte Grafiken, Tondokumente, Videosequenzen und Texte zu nutzen oder auf lizenzfreie Grafiken, Tondokumente, Videosequenzen und Texte zurückzugreifen.
Alle innerhalb des Internetangebotes genannten und ggf. durch Dritte geschützten Marken- und Warenzeichen unterliegen uneingeschränkt den Bestimmungen des jeweils gültigen Kennzeichenrechts und den Besitzrechten der jeweiligen eingetragenen Eigentümer. Allein aufgrund der bloßen Nennung ist nicht der Schluss zu ziehen, dass Markenzeichen nicht durch Rechte Dritter geschützt sind!
Das Copyright für veröffentlichte, vom Autor selbst erstellte Objekte bleibt allein beim Autor der Seiten. Eine Vervielfältigung oder Verwendung solcher Grafiken, Tondokumente, Videosequenzen und Texte in anderen elektronischen oder gedruckten Publikationen ist ohne ausdrückliche Zustimmung des Autors nicht gestattet.
4. Rechtswirksamkeit dieses Haftungsausschlusses
Dieser Haftungsausschluss ist als Teil des Internetangebotes zu betrachten, von dem aus auf diese Seite verwiesen wurde. Sofern Teile oder einzelne Formulierungen dieses Textes der geltenden Rechtslage nicht, nicht mehr oder nicht vollständig entsprechen sollten, bleiben die übrigen Teile des Dokumentes in ihrem Inhalt und ihrer Gültigkeit davon unberührt.
Translation - Spanish ABC no garantiza que los datos ofrecidos sean actuales, correctos, completos ni confiables. ABC no asume ninguna responsabilidad legal en absoluto por los daños materiales o morales# que puedan ser ocasionados por la utilización o la no utilización de la información ofrecida o bien por el aprovechamiento de información inexacta o incompleta, salvo que se demuestre que ABC haya incurrido en infracción intencional o imprudencia grave.
Todas las ofertas se hacen sin compromiso y no obligan a nada. ABC se reserva expresamente el derecho, sin preaviso, a alterar, suplementar o borrar partes de las páginas o el surtido completo, o bien a suspender la publicación, ya sea provisional o permanentemente.
2. Referencias y enlaces
Al hacer referencia directa o indirectamente a páginas ajenas ubicadas en la Internet (”enlaces” o “vínculos”) que queden fuera del ámbito de responsabilidad de ABC, entraría en vigor una responsabilidad de ABC únicamente en el supuesto de que ABC conociese que el contenido de aquéllas es ilegal y le fuese técnicamente posible y razonablemente exigible a ABC impedir su aprovechamiento para insertar contenidos ilícitos.
Por consiguiente ABC declara expresamente que en el momento en que se crearon los vínculos las páginas vinculadas correspondientes eran libres de todo contenido ilegal. ABC no goza de ningún influjo sobre la conformación actual ni futura ni sobre los contenidos de las páginas vinculadas. Por este motivo se manifiesta ajeno/a a todo lo que contengan las páginas vinculadas que hayan sufrido alguna modificación después del establecimiento de dicho vínculo. Esta declaración vale para todos los vínculos y referencias ubicados en nuestro surtido# interno sobre la Internet así como los mensajes ajenos que sean insertados en libros de invitados, foros de discusión y listas de direcciones. Únicamente el ofertor de la página con la cual se haya establecido el vínculo responde por los contenidos ilícitos, erróneos o incompletos y especialmente por todo perjuicio que pueda resultar de informaciones así exhibidas. En cambio queda libre de toda responsabilidad aquél que haya meramente remitido a la publicación en cuestión.
3. Derechos de autor y marcas
ABC se esfuerza por respetar en todas las publicaciones los derechos de los autores respectivos de las representaciones gráficas, documentos sonoros, secuencias de vídeo y textos. Igualmente exhibe representaciones gráficas, documentos sonoros, secuencias de vídeo y textos producidos por él/ella mismo/a así como aquellos que no estén protegidos por derechos de autor o de marca.
Toda marca de fábrica o marca registrada mencionada o en su caso protegida por terceros está sometida irrestrictamente a las disposiciones de las leyes de marcas que le sea aplicables, así como a los derechos de dominio del propietario que conste. La mera mención de una marca no justifica la creencia que no esté protegida por derechos de terceros.
El derecho de autor por objetos publicados y creados por el autor mismo queda reservado a éste. La reproducción o utilización de dichas representaciones gráficas, documentos sonoros, secuencias de vídeo y textos en otras publicaciones, ya sean electrónicas o impresas, queda prohibida sin el expreso beneplácito del autor.
4. Fuerza legal de esta exclusión de responsabilidad
Se ha de considerar esta exclusión de responsabilidad como parte del surtido ubicado en la Internet a partir del cual se ha remitido. En la medida en que porciones o frases individuales contenidas en este texto no acaten la ley, la acaten sólo en parte o hayan dejado de acatarla, las demás partes del documento quedan intactas y su validez no es afectada.
Italian to English: Trial Transcript
Source text - Italian P.M. (DR. FUSCO) - Mi basta così, mi basta così. Altra domanda, devo dire, flash, Lei probabilmente ha già risposto, Deloitte non doveva controllare la sostanza delle analisi sviluppate dal revisore secondario ma le procedure. Ora, sulla circolarizzazione delle risposte che venivano da Bank of America doveva controllare se quelle risposte pervenivano direttamente dalla banca o pervenivano dalla sede di Collecchio di Parmalat?
CICCHETTI - No, questa era un’attività che ricadeva nella responsabilità della Grant Thornton, quindi, come dicevo, nel momento in cui la Deloitte non assumeva la responsabilità, non si assumeva la responsabilità di quella parte del gruppo, e noi l’abbiamo contestato, perché era questo che non era possibile, ripeto...
PRESIDENTE - È a monte il problema.
CICCHETTI - Esatto, il problema è a monte, lui non aveva un obbligo di rivedere questo tipo di lavoro, ma aveva l’obbligo di, lasciando da parte il vizio a monte, di analizzare i risultati del lavoro svolto e che ci fosse,ovviamente, una coerenza tecnica, una coerenza di insieme tra le informazioni, e quindi una sufficiente... come dire, un sufficiente output da parte della Grant Thornton, per fugare ogni dubbio in merito a delle posizioni che erano oggetto di consolidamento attraverso l’abbattimento di posizioni di natura finanziaria rilevanti. Quindi, era un discorso di qualità dell’informazione professionale ricevuta dalla Deloitte attraverso la Grant Thornton, quindi ricevuta dalla Deloitte dalla Grant Thornton. La Grant Thornton si assumeva la responsabilità di (pp.ii., a bassa voce).
PRESIDENTE - Delle affermazioni che faceva, certo.
P.M. (DOTT. NOCERINO) - Senta, Dottoressa, tra le carte di lavoro della Deloitte che voi avete, ovviamente, esaminato, ci sono anche i quesiti che in sostanza il revisore pone a sé stesso. Tra questi quesiti ne avete enucleati alcuni, accertando delle carenze nei controlli. Uno di questi quesiti ad esempio: “C’è motivo di preoccupazione relativo alla natura dell’attività dell’azienda-cliente? L’azienda utilizza tecniche di finanziamento complesse o innovative?”, e il revisore si dava delle risposte in base alla sua attività di revisione. Avete rilevato delle carenze in questa, nella valutazione di questi... nel rispondere a questi quesiti che il revisore poneva, tutto sommato, a sé stesso?
CICCHETTI - Sì, questo era, appunto, era parte del metodo che veniva utilizzato per valutare, quindi per conoscere l’attività del cliente, documentarne la conoscenza e valutarne la rischiosità, come stavamo dicendo prima. E sicuramente qui... ci tengo a sottolineare che poi... adesso non so se questo è il momento giusto, perché sto già passando poi alla fase successiva valutativa della sanzione, questa è solo la fase contestatoria, comunque forse è meglio stare sulla contestazione. Ma quello che noi abbiamo riscontrato è che a fronte di un metodo che prevedeva appunto nei format 1210, 1211, tutta una serie di quesiti che servivano ad indirizzare il lavoro del revisore, quindi a far concentrare la sua attenzione su determinati aspetti che potevano caratterizzare l’attività del gruppo oggetto di controllo, c’erano dei quesiti che oggettivamente... insomma, senza grandi sforzi soggettivi e valutativi, a noi sono sembrati sottostimati, quindi sottovalutati in termini di rischiosità.
P.M. (DOTT. NOCERINO) - Per esempio, finanziamenti complessi?
CICCHETTI - Per esempio proprio quelli che richiamava Lei, no, siamo qui (pp.ii., voci sovrapposte).
PRESIDENTE - , ci faccia l’esempio su questo dei finanziamenti complessi, cosa hanno detto?
CICCHETTI - , guardi, c’è questo documento qui, immagino che sia questo appunto di pagina 21 delle contestazioni...
P.M. (DOTT. NOCERINO) - Sì.
CICCHETTI - ... e qui noi abbiamo richiamato che, a fronte di domande come l’azienda, appunto, utilizza tecniche di finanziamento complesse o innovative... oppure ci sono delle influenze esterne tipiche del settore di attività che hanno effetto su operazioni o sulla capacità di continuare l’attività, qui il revisore non ha considerato, se vogliamo focalizzare l’attenzione sul primo, ma anche sul secondo, dei fattori di rischio. Quindi per lui le tecniche di finanziamento non erano complesse e innovative, non erano da considerarsi come elementi a rischio. Perché queste domande veniva sempre formulate nell’ottica della valutazione del rischio, e quindi non come... come dire, esistenti o non esistenti in termini assoluti, ma in un’ottica di rischiosità, che chiaramente presuppone una valutazione professionale, ma che nel caso di specie, vista la configurazione del gruppo e la posizione sicuramente finanziaria di questo gruppo caratterizzato da una serie di operazioni, che noi abbiamo poi ampiamente illustrato, a nostro parere non poteva non essere considerati come fattori critici, di rischio.
P.M. (DOTT. NOCERINO) - malgrado ne avessero valutato l’indebitamento?
CICCHETTI - Certo, quindi erano... infatti non erano elementi sconosciuti, non noti, erano elementi, quelli che poi noi abbiamo ricostruito, noti ma non considerati a rischio.
P.M. (DOTT. NOCERINO) - Lo stesso dicasi per le tensioni finanziarie del gruppo, che erano state evidenziate dal revisore?
CICCHETTI - Sì, noi abbiamo infatti ripercorso, nelle nostre contestazioni, tutti i punti che a nostro parere potevano... comunque quelli che da un punto di vista abbastanza, direi, oggettivo, non potevano non essere qualificati come contenenti una componente di rischio che doveva essere valutata.
P.M. (DOTT. NOCERINO) - , già che ci siamo, rimanendo nel campo delle componenti di rischio, ma ad esempio l’operatività con parti correlate era stata adeguatamente, efficacemente valutata dal revisore Deloitte? Erano state individuate correttamente queste parti correlate?
CICCHETTI - , qui il problema più che l’individuazione della natura del soggetto correlato, era proprio il problema della natura delle operazioni, che venivano descritte come operazioni che avevano una certa natura, e cioè che avevano l’obiettivo di creare delle forme di finanziamento all’interno del gruppo. E qui forse può valer la pena, non so se lo vuole fare in questo momento, accennare a questo discorso che poi per noi ha costituito oggetto di approfondimento, nella parte successiva delle contestazioni, che riguarda questo discorso dei partecipation agreement. Qui noi ci siamo ritrovati con una realtà in cui nel luglio, qui torno un attimo indietro, nel luglio del 2003, a fronte di quella prima richiesta di cui abbiamo parlato prima, formulata da Consob il 16 luglio, e il 23 la Deloitte ci ha risposto con una serie di informazioni, tra cui una, diciamo, più che descrizione, non era una descrizione dei partecipation agreement, ma era una definizione, la qualificherei così. E cioè si spiegava, in quella sede, che nell’ambito del gruppo erano stati stipulati questi accordi che nella sostanza potevano configurare delle forme di finanziamento infragruppo.
P.M. (DOTT. NOCERINO) - Praticamente cosa diceva, che mettevano dei soldi nella banca locale della partecipata?
CICCHETTI - Esatto, la banca locale che poi veniva, come dire, in qualche modo riversato nella sede della stessa banca, nel paese dove aveva poi la sede il soggetto che aveva bisogno di beneficiare di queste somme, e quindi il tutto andava a configurare una sorta di finanziamento infragruppo.
Translation - English PROSECUTOR (DR. FUSCO) - That’s enough for me, that’s enough for me. Another question, I must say, flash [sic], you probably already answered, Deloitte wasn’t supposed to verify the content of the analyses developed by the secondary auditor but rather its procedures. Now, regarding the routing of the answers that came from Bank of America, were you supposed to check whether those answers were coming directly from the bank or from Parmalat’s Collecchio headquarters?
CICCHETTI – No, this was an activity that was the responsibility of Grant Thornton, so, as I was saying, if Deloitte failed to assume the responsibility, the responsibility for that part of the group was not assumed by anyone, and we objected, ‘cause this was impossible, I repeat …
THE COURT – The problem is upstream.
CICCHETTI – Exactly, the problem is upstream, he had no duty to review this kind of work, but had the duty to, leaving aside the problem upstream, to analyze the results of the work performed and make sure it was technically consistent, an overall consistency among the data, and therefore an adequate … how should I put it, enough output from Grant Thornton to dispel any doubts as to the entries/positions that were being consolidated by means of the deletion of positions that were financially speaking very large. So it was a matter of the quality of the professional information received from Deloitte through Grant Thornton, in other words received by Deloitte from Grant Thornton. Grant Thornton was assuming the responsibility of (unintelligible words in a low voice).
THE COURT – Statements it would make, of course.
PROSECUTOR (DR. NOCERINO) – Doctor, among Deloitte’s worksheets, that you have obviously examined, are also the questions that the auditor essentially asks himself. Of these questions have you explained any, discovering weaknesses in the controls? One of these questions for example: “Is there a reason to be concerned about the nature of the client firm’s business? Does the firm use complex or innovative financing techniques?” and the auditor answered himself on the basis of his auditing. Have you detected weaknesses in this, in the assessment of these … in answering these questions that the auditor asked, all things considered, of himself?
CICCHETTI – Yes, this was exactly, was part of the method that was being used to evaluate, and so to learn about the client’s business, to document the awareness of it and assess its degree of risk, as we were saying before. And surely here … here I attach great importance to stressing that afterwards … right now I don’t know if this is the right moment, because I'm already passing over into the following stage in which the penalty is evaluated, this is only the case in chief, in any case perhaps it’s better to stay in the case in chief. But what we found was that against a method that required precisely in formats 1210, 1211, a whole gamut of questions that served to orient the auditor’s work, consequently to concentrate his attn on certain aspects that could characterize the business of the group that was being audited, there were questions that objectively … well, in any case, without any great subjective effort of evaluation, they seemed to us to have been underestimated, therefore undervalued in terms of risk exposure.
PROSECUTOR (DR. NOCERINO) – For example, complicated financing deals?
CICCHETTI – For example precisely those that you cited, no, here we are (unintelligible words, more than one person speaking).
THE COURT – That’s it, give us an example of these complicated financing deals, what did they say?
CICCHETTI – Look, there’s this document here, I suppose this is precisely page 21 of the objections …
PROSECUTOR (DR. NOCERINO) – Yes.
CICCHETTI - … and here we mentioned that against questions like the firm, exactly, uses complicated or innovative financing techniques … or there are outside influences typical of that line of business that have repercussions on operations or the ability to stay in business, here the auditor failed to consider, if we want to focus attn on the first, but also on the second, of the risk factors. So for him financing methods were not complicated and innovative, they didn’t have to be considered risk factors. Because these questions were always formulated from a perspective of risk assessment, so not as if … how should I say, existing or non-existent in absolute terms, but from a risk standpoint, which of course presupposes a professional assessment, but which in this case, in view of the structure of the group and the position, certainly financial, of this group characterized by a number of operations that we later explained in detail, in our opinion there was no way they could be considered as anything else than critical factors, risk factors.
PROSECUTOR (DR. NOCERINO) – You mean despite that fact that they hadn’t assessed the indebtedness?
CICCHETTI – Of course, so they were … as a matter of fact the factors that we reconstructed later weren’t unknown, undetected factors, they were factors that were known but not considered risky.
PROSECUTOR (DR. NOCERINO) - You can say the same thing about the group’s financial strains that the auditor pointed out?
CICCHETTI – Yes, we actually went over again, in our objections, all the points that in our opinion could … in any case the ones that from a sufficiently, I would say, objective standpoint, were incapable of not being classified as containing a risk component that had to be assessed.
PROSECUTOR (DR. NOCERINO) - Right, now that we’re on the subject, staying on the subject of risk factors, but for example operations with affiliated parties, had that been adequately, effectively evaluated by Deloitte’s auditor? Had these affiliated parties been correctly identified?
CICCHETTI – Mah,, here the problem, rather than identifying the nature of the affiliated subject, was actually the problem of the nature of the operations that were described as operations with certain traits, namely that they had the goal of creating forms of financing within the group. And here perhaps it is worthwhile, I don’t know if you want to do it right now, make a reference to this subject matter that later became for us an object of thorough inquiry, in the next part of the objections, that has to do with this matter of the participation agreement. Here we have encountered again a fact that in July, here I’m making a brief flashback, in July 2003, against that first request we talked about before, that the CONSOB made on July 16, and on the 23rd Deloitte answered us sending us some
information, and this information included an item that, more than a description, it wasn’t a description of the participation agreement but a settlement, that’s what I would call it. And that is the explanation at the time that inside the group these agreements had been signed that basically could constitute a kind of intra-group financing.
PROSECUTOR (DR. NOCERINO) - So what did it actually say, that they would put money in the subsidiary's local bank?
CICCHETTI – Exactly, the local bank then would come, what’s the word? somehow transferred to the branch of the same bank in the country where the entity needing these funds was located, so the whole thing practically constituted an intra-group financing scheme.
German to English: Swiss Bankruptcy Law
Source text - German Das Kollokationsverfahren
Der Zusammenbruch der Swissair sorgt auch nach mehr als vier Jahren immer noch für viel Gesprächsstoff (Kinofilm "Grounding", Strafverfahren und Verantwortlichkeitsklagen gegen Organe des Swissair-Konzerns). Der Kollokationsplan im Nachlassverfahren der SAirLines wurde erst kürzlich aufgelegt und demnächst sollen auch die Kollokationspläne in den Nachlassverfahren der Swissair Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG und der SAirGroup den Gläubigern zur Einsicht aufgelegt werden. Dies bietet Gelegenheit, nachfolgend auf einige Aspekte des Kollokationsverfahrens näher einzugehen.
Beim Nachlassvertrag mit Vermögensabtretung finden die Vorschriften des konkursrechtlichen Kollokationsverfahrens sinngemässe Anwendung. Die nachfolgenden Ausführungen gelten daher, wenn nichts Abweichendes erwähnt wird, sowohl für das Konkursverfahren als auch für die Nachlassliquidation mit Vermögensabtretung. Die Begriffe Konkursverwaltung bzw. Konkursmasse werden synonym auch für den Liquidator bzw. die Nachlassmasse verwendet.
Das Kollokationsverfahren dient dazu, festzustellen, welche Forderungen im Konkursverfahren zuzulassen oder abzuweisen sind und welcher Rang der Forderung bei der Verteilung des Konkurserlöses zukommt. Nach Ablauf der Eingabefrist prüft die Konkursverwaltung die eingegebenen Forderungen und macht die dazu notwendigen Abklärungen. Sie holt über jede Konkurseingabe die Erklärung des Schuldners ein (Art. 244 SchKG). Die erforderlichen Abklärungen haben sich auch auf die geltend gemachten Pfandrechte und auf den Rang der Forderung zu erstrekken. Die Konkursverwaltung entscheidet dann über die Anerkennung der Forderungen. Sie ist hierbei an die Erklärungen des Schuldners nicht gebunden (Art. 245 SchKG). Bedingte Zulassungen oder Abweisungen von Forderungen sind (von Ausnahmen abgesehen) unzulässig. Aus dem Kollokationsplan (Plan für die Rangordnung der Gläubiger) muss für jeden einzelnen Gläubiger ersichtlich sein, ob und in welchem Rang seine Forderung zugelassen ist oder nicht.
Kann sich die Konkursverwaltung über die Zulassung oder Abweisung einer Ansprache noch nicht aussprechen, so soll sie entweder mit der Aufstellung des Kollokationsplanes zuwarten oder aber den Kollokationsplan nachträglich ergänzen und unter öffentlicher Bekanntmachung wieder auflegen (Art. 59 Abs. 3 KOV). Eine Aussetzung der Kollokationsverfügung mit nachträglicher Ergänzung des Kollokationsplanes ist nur zulässig, wenn ernsthafte Hindernisse oder Schwierigkeiten einer abschliessenden Kollokation entgegenstehen (BGE 119 II 130 ff.). Ebenso ist ein partieller, auf bestimmte Forderungsklassen beschränkter Kollokationsplan nur unter den Voraussetzungen von Art. 59 Abs. 3 KOV zulässig.
Streitige Forderungen gegen den Konkursiten, welche im Zeitpunkt der Konkurseröffnung bereits Gegenstand eines Prozesses bilden und die den Bestand der Konkursmasse berühren, sind im Kollokationsplan zunächst ohne Verfügung der Konkursverwaltung lediglich pro memoria (p.m.) vorzumerken. Die entsprechenden Zivilprozesse oder Verwaltungsverfahren sind einzustellen (Art. 207 SchKG, Art. 63 Abs. 1 KOV). Wird der Prozess weder von der Masse noch von einzelnen Gläubigern fortgeführt, so ist die Forderung nach Art. 63 Abs. 2 KOV endgültig zu kollozieren. Bei Fortführung des Prozesses richtet sich die Kollokation nach dessen Ausgang. Das Bundesgericht entschied kürzlich, dass Art. 207 SchKG und Art. 63 KOV sich nur auf Prozesse im Inland beziehen, d.h. der Liquidator hatte daher die angemeldete Forderung ohne Rücksicht auf den im Zeitpunkt der definitiven Nachlassstundung hängigen Prozess im Ausland zu prüfen (BGE 130 III 769).
Die Konkursverwaltung hat den Kollokationsplan gemäss der in Art. 219 SchKG festgelegten Rangordnung der Gläubiger zu erstellen. Gehört zur Masse ein Grundstück, so erstellt sie ein Verzeichnis der darauf ruhenden Lasten (Pfandrechte, Dienstbarkeiten, Grundlasten und vorgemerkte persönliche Rechte). Das Lastenverzeichnis bildet Bestandteil des Kollokationsplanes. Die pfandgesicherten Forderungen werden vorweg aus dem Ergebnis der Verwertung der Pfänder bezahlt. Die nicht pfandgesicherten Forderungen sowie der ungedeckte Betrag der pfandgesicherten Forderungen folgen gemäss Art. 219 Abs. 4 in drei Klassen. Zur ersten Klasse gehören u.a. bestimmte Forderungen aus dem Arbeitsrecht, Forderungen von Personalvorsorgeeinrichtungen gegenüber den angeschlossenen Arbeitgebern (dieses Privileg besteht unabhängig vom Rechtsgrund auch für die Darlehensforderung einer registrierten Personalvorsorgeeinrichtung gegenüber der angeschlossenen Arbeitgeberfirma, BGE 129 III 468 ff.) sowie familienrechtliche Unterhalts- und Unterstützungsforderungen. Das Zweitklassenprivileg geniessen insbesondere Forderungen von Sozialversicherungen. Der dritten Klasse gehören alle übrigen Forderungen an. Die einzelnen Klassen beruhen auf einem von sozialen Erwägungen beeinflussten politischen Entscheid des Gesetzgebers.
Auf den 1. Januar 2005 ist eine Änderung des Arbeitnehmerprivilegs in Kraft getreten, welche auf alle nachher eröffneten Konkurs- bzw. Nachlassverfahren Anwendung (somit noch nicht auf die eingangs erwähnten Nachlassverfahren im Swissair-Konzern) findet. Das Arbeitnehmerprivileg war bisher in zeitlicher Hinsicht auf die in den letzten sechs Monaten vor der Konkurseröffnung entstandenen Forderungen begrenzt (v.a. die letzten sechs offenen Monatslöhne; gemäss BGE 131 III 451 sind auch Forderungen für nicht bezogene Ferien erstklassenprivilegiert, selbst wenn das entsprechende Ferienguthaben mehr als ein halbes Jahr vor Konkurseröffnung entstanden ist). Auf die Fälligkeit kam es bisher nicht an. Dies hatte zur Folge, dass im Falle eines in der zweiten Hälfte des Kalenderjahres über den Arbeitgeber ausgesprochenen Konkurses die Lohnbestandteile mit aufgeschobener Fälligkeit nicht das Privileg einer Kollokation in der ersten Klasse genossen (z.B. der 13. Monatslohn). Mit der Revision werden nun nicht nur die in den letzten sechs Monaten vor Konkurseröffnung entstandenen, sondern die auch in diesem Zeitraum fällig gewordenen Forderungen in der ersten Klasse kolloziert.
Art. 213 SchKG erlaubt grundsätzlich auch die Verrechnung im laufenden Konkursverfahren. Der Gläubiger, dem die Möglichkeit der Kompensation offensteht, kann seine Forderung mittels Verrechnung vollständig befriedigen. Demgegenüber müssen sich jene Gläubiger, die keine verrechenbare Forderung haben, mit der Konkursdividende begnügen. Um allfälligen Missbräuchen zu begegnen, ist die Verrechnung durch den Gläubiger deshalb von Gesetzes wegen dann ausgeschlossen, wenn ein Schuldner des Konkursiten erst nach der Konkurseröffnung dessen Gläubiger wird oder wenn der Gläubiger des Schuldners erst nach der Konkurseröffnung Schuldner desselben oder der Konkursmasse wird. Der Gläubiger hat die Verrechnungserklärung mit der Forderungsanmeldung vorzunehmen. Die Konkursverwaltung ist verpflichtet, den über die Verrechnungssumme hinausgehenden Mehrbetrag im Kollokationsplan aufzunehmen, auch wenn sie die Verrechnung nicht akzeptieren will. Auch die Konkursmasse kann die Verrechnung erklären. Die in Art. 213 SchKG statuierten Verrechnungsverbote gelten dabei nicht. Falls die Konkursmasse die Verrechnung vornimmt, so erklärt sie die Verrechnung gegenüber dem Gläubiger und weist die Forderung des Gläubigers in der Höhe der Verrechnungsforderung in der Kollokationsverfügung ab.
Der Kollokationsplan (inkl. Lastenverzeichnis, Belege und Inventar) wird beim Konkursamt (bzw. am Sitz der Liquidatoren) zur Einsicht aufgelegt. Die Konkursverwaltung macht die Auflegung öffentlich bekannt. Jedem Gläubiger, dessen Forderung ganz oder teilweise abgewiesen worden ist oder welcher nicht den beanspruchten Rang erhalten hat, wird die Auflage des Kollokationsplanes und die Abweisung seiner Forderung besonders angezeigt. Die Verletzung von Verfahrensvorschriften bei der Erstellung des Kollokationsplanes (z.B. wenn ein unvollständiger, unklarer oder lückenhafter Kollokationsplan vorliegt) ist mit der Beschwerde zu rügen. Ist ein Gläubiger mit seiner Forderung ganz oder teilweise abgewiesen oder nicht im beanspruchten Rang zugelassen worden, so steht ihm die Klage gegen die Konkursmasse offen. Eine solche Klage empfiehlt sich für den Gläubiger insbesondere, wenn bei ihrer Gutheissung für ihn eine markant höhere Konkursdividende resultiert. Zu beachten ist auch, dass sich eine Dividendenprognose allenfalls nachträglich bedeutend nach oben verschieben kann, insbesondere bei positivem Ausgang von Anfechtungsklagen, Verantwortlichkeitsklagen gegen die Organe des Konkursiten und weiteren hängigen Prozessen. Bei Gutheissung einer Klage gegen die Konkursmasse wird der Kollokationsplan mit Wirkung für alle Gläubiger entsprechend abgeändert. Will ein Gläubiger die Zulassung eines anderen Gläubigers oder dessen Rang bestreiten, so hat er die Klage gegen den Gläubiger zu richten. Obsiegt der Kläger, steht ihm der Prozessgewinn, d.h. die Dividende auf dem Betrag zu, um den der Anteil am Liquidationsergebnis des Beklagten herabgesetzt wird, bis zur vollen Deckung der kollozierten Forderung des Klägers einschliesslich der Prozesskosten. Klagen sind innert 20 Tagen seit der Publikation der Auflegung des Planes beim Richter am Konkursort einzureichen, Beschwerden innert 10 Tagen bei der Aufsichtsbehörde.
Translation - English The Asset Distribution Procedure in Insolvency
Swissair’s collapse is still a hot topic even years later, as can be seen by Grounding (a feature film) and the criminal trial and suits for damages instituted against officials of the Swissair group. The plan for distribution of the assets (ADP) among creditors in the actions over the estate of SAirLines was made available for public inspection only recently. The asset distribution plans for the Swissair Corporation and the SAirGroup will soon be submitted to creditors. This is a suitable occasion to explain certain aspects of the asset distribution procedure in insolvencies.
The situation in which a debtor reaches a settlement with its creditors entailing the assignment of its assets is governed analogously by the rules for asset distribution procedures provided for by insolvency law. Consequently the following explanations are valid -- provided nothing is said to the contrary – both for insolvency proceedings and for the winding up of estates that applies in cases of assignment of assets. The terms receiver in bankruptcy and bankrupt’s estate are applied indifferently to the liquidator and the remaining assets.
The asset distribution procedure serves the purpose of determining which claims will be accepted and which rejected in the insolvency proceedings as well as the relative priority accorded each claim when determining the distribution of the bankrupt's estate. Once the deadline for filing claims has elapsed, the receiver in bankruptcy examines the claims submitted and makes whatever enquiries may be necessary. The receiver obtains the debtor’s statement with respect to each claim submitted (article 244 SchKG). The necessary enquiries must encompass any liens asserted and the priority of each claim. The receiver then decides whether to recognize the claim or not. This decision does not depend on the debtor’s statement (article 245 SchKG). Admission or rejection of claims may not be conditional in nature, with certain exceptions. The asset distribution plan – which decides the relative priority of each creditor – must make clear to each creditor whether its claim has been admitted or not, and if so, which priority it has been assigned.
If the receiver is yet unable to pronounce himself regarding admission or rejection of a claim, either the drawing up of the ADP must be postponed or else the ADP must be supplemented at a later date and published anew (article 59 paragraph 3 KOV). The decision on asset distribution may be postponed -- subject to later supplementation -- only if the reaching of a definitive ADP is seriously impeded (BGE 119 II 130 ff.). Likewise a partial ADP covering only some types of claim is allowed only if the conditions of article 59 paragraph 3 KOV are fulfilled.
Disputed claims against the bankrupt which are already being legally contested at the time bankruptcy proceedings are instituted and which affect the substance of the estate must be noted merely pro memoria (p.m.) in the ADP by the receiver, who shall postpone any decision with respect to them. Any relevant civil actions or [contested] administrative proceedings must be suspended (article 207 SchKG, article 63 paragraph 1 KOV). If litigation is not pursued any further by individual creditors or by the estate, the claim must be definitively incorporated into the ADP, in accordance with article 63 paragraph 2 KOV. If litigation continues, incorporation into the ADP is determined by its outcome. The Federal Court decided recently that article 207 SchKG and article 63 KOV refer only to domestic litigation, that is to say the liquidator must examine each claim submitted forthwith and make final decisions on the estate regardless of the eventual outcome of pending foreign litigation (BGE 130 III 769).
The receiver in bankruptcy must draw up the ADP in accordance with the ranking of creditors provided for in article 219 SchKG. If the estate includes real property, a list of any encumbrances attaching to it must be drawn up (liens, easements, real estate taxes and reserved personal rights [Dieser Begriff its mir nicht klar.] ). This list of encumbrances constitutes part of the ADP. Any claims secured by liens are paid in advance out of the proceeds from liquidation of the encumbered assets. In accordance with article 219 paragraph 4, claims not secured by liens and the unsatisfied amount of the secured claims are divided into three classes. The first class comprises, among others, certain claims based on labor legislation, claims by employees’ pension funds against the related employers (this privilege exists, regardless of legal grounds, likewise for claims for reimbursement of loans made by a registered employees’ pension fund against the related firm employing the employees, BGE 129 III 468 ff.), as well as claims for support based on family law obligations. The second class privilege favors particularly the claims of social insurance institutions. All other claims are included in the third class. This three-tiered system results from a political decision of the legislator responding to considerations of social welfare.
As of January 1, 2005 an amendment to the employee privilege went into effect, which applies to all insolvency proceedings that commence after that date, and consequently is not applicable to the proceedings regarding the estate of the Swissair group mentioned at the beginning. The employee privilege was until now restricted, time-wise, to claims that arose during the last six months before insolvency proceedings were initiated (particularly the last six months of unpaid wages; under BGE 131 III 451 claims for vacations not taken enjoy the first-class privilege even if the available vacation time in question accrued more than half a year before initiation of insolvency proceedings). Until now the date on which a claim came due was irrelevant. As a result, if an employer was adjudged insolvent during the second half of a calendar year, those components of the wage whose satisfaction was postponed did not enjoy first-class privileges (e.g. the so-called 13th monthly wage). The amendment thus includes in the first class not only claims that arose in the last six months before insolvency proceedings began, but also any prior claims that came due during this period.
Article 213 SchKG as a general rule also allows setoffs during bankruptcy proceedings. A creditor entitled to compensation may thus satisfy its claim in its totality through setoff. On the other hand a creditor without any claims subject to setoff must make do with its share of the estate. To prevent any possible abuses, setoff by the creditor is disallowed by the law if a debtor of the bankrupt does not become its creditor until after commencement of bankruptcy proceedings or when the debtor’s creditor does not become a debtor with respect to the estate until after commencement of bankruptcy proceedings. The creditor must submit a setoff statement together with the report of its claim. The receiver is obligated to include in the ADP any amount exceeding the setoff sum, even if the receiver rejects the setoff claim. The estate may likewise set its claims off against its liabilities. In this case the impediments to a setoff provided for in article 213 SchKG do not apply. If it is the estate that performs the setoff, it must declare the setoff to the creditor and include the creditor’s claim up to the amount of the setoff claim in the asset distribution decision.
The ADP (including list of encumbrances, receipts and inventory) is kept available for inspection at the bankruptcy bureau or at the liquidator’s office. The receiver announces publicly the availability of the documents for inspection. Each creditor whose claim has been rejected in whole or in part or which failed to attain the priority class it desired, is individually advised of the availability of the ADP for inspection and of the rejection of its claim. Any breach of procedural rules during drawing up of the ADP (e.g. if the ADP is incomplete or unclear or contains gaps) may be contested by means of an appeal. A creditor whose claim has been rejected in whole or in part or which failed to attain the priority class it desired is entitled to bring suit against the estate. Such an action is especially advisable for creditors for whom a successful outcome would entail the award of a substantially larger portion of the estate. One should note that an expectation regarding the size of the dividend to be expected from an estate may be substantially increased only ex post, especially as a result of a favorable outcome of legal challenges, suits for damages against officials of the bankrupt entity and any additional pending cases. [
Portuguese to English: Portuguese Colonial Empire
Source text - Portuguese Foi um processo misturado, no qual os portugueses tiveram que introduzir seu tipo de oranização social assim como seu regime legal sobre diversos povos. Mas ao mesmo tempo tiveram que se adaptar a uma nova realidade na tentativa de incorporar diferentes sociedades e novos agentes, como os grupos indígenas e posteriormente os africanos levados como escravos para as Américas e de enfrentar novas situações que ainda não haviam experimentado anteriormente.
Assim, a influência de sistemas legais europeus, e no caso de Portugal, evidencia um entrelaçamento (intertwining) com práticas natives no processo de formação dessas sociedades coloniais. Os múltiplos contextos legais eram simultaneamente central para a construção da ordem colonial a chave para a formação de largos padrões de estrutura global, segundo Benton. As sociedades coloniais viveriam um pluralismo jurídico, onde os limites existentes residiriram principalmente nos aspectos culturais e religiosos. Isso pode ser visto principalmente nos estados ibéricos e o processo de Reconquista, no qual aspectos religiosos foram muito importantes para o controle da vida cotidiana. A ordem institucional não seria exclusivista, mas produto de um contexto multicultural e nas areas coloniais havia uma característica especial não apenas porque tinham ordens jurídicas plurais, mas ponto mais interessante é que essas ordens jurídicas plurais travavam lutas sobre seus interesses. No momento em que as coroas européias tentavam compilar as leis existentes em ordem de assegurar que elas fossem preservadas na sua forma escrita, a Europa observava o começo da formação secular da lei promulgada pelo rei, em contrapartida ao direito canônico.
As coroas européias precisavam estabelecer um controle sobre as novas areas as quais tentatava monopolizar. Então, o colonialismo forjou uma conjuntura para a política de um pluralismo jurídico, através de padrões particulares e tentativas estratégicas de impor seu sistema legal que muitas vezes beiraram a agressão. As novas areas coloniais eram o palco para disputas jurídicas na formação da ordem colonial, não sendo um processo uniforme. Afinal, a ordem colonial tinha que abarcar novos agentes e interargir culturalmente no sentido de prevenir disturbações na colônia como resultado da tentativa metropolitana de monopolizar o poder.
Early modern Portuguese society was shaped exactly over a multicultural society. Before Portuguese started to conquest or even after, Portuguese lived with different people with different organization as Muslins and Jews. Little by little, Portuguese crown claimed domain over all territories. Ruling these parts was concomitant with the construction of the legal system. Portuguese Law Codes were product of the Iberian history and of an increase control over the peninsula. Even before Portugal started to shape its state, law was also present in Iberian Peninsula.
Até o século XIV, várias leis já haviam sido formuladas e finalmente em 1446, foram todas compiladas nas chamadas Ordenações Afonsinas, sob o governo de Afonso V. Como novas leis form surgindo e também a necessidade de mudar algumas antigas, em 1521 D. Manuel I, promulgou as Ordenações Manuelinas. Esses códigos foram também a base para reger legalmente as áreas coloniais.
Após 1580, com a União Ibérica, embora Felipe II demonstrasse boa vontade, em dar aos portugueses alguma autonomia na reforma judicial, recusava-se a arriscar a autonomia política, ou a violação de suas prerrogativas reais. Uma comissão completou a revisão da Ordenações Manuelinas por volta de 1595, acrescentando, cancelando e retificando conforme a necessidade. A publicação do novo código – as Ordenações Filipinas – foi postergada até 1603: nesse ínterim, a Coroa instituiu muitas das reformas projetadas. O período entre 1581 e 1590 foi de intensa atividade na reforma das estruturas judicial e administrativa portuguesa. Estas reformas teriam importante efeito não só em Portugal como também em suas colônias.
Além disso, para as areas coloniais a Coroa portuguesa traçou uma estratégia deliberada de acumulação de estruturas, dotadas de competências bem definidas, destinadas ao controle recíproco. O entorpecimento da ação devido ao princípio do referendo e da consulta agravava a dificuldade da manobra nas periferias do império, sobretudo em situações inesperadas, nomeadamente ameaças militares, mas garantia a presença tutelar do rei, cuja responsabilidade última era sublinhada pela tortuosidade dos procedimentos. Aliás, o caráter temporário das comissões de serviço em todo o império reforçava o caráter precário da permanência dos indivíduos e evitava, de forma radical, o enraizamento de estruturas de poder estáveis, criado em torno de figuras carismáticas. Dir-se-ia que a Coroa, de forma sibilina, preferiu um império precário e centralizado, com sistemas estabelecidos de vigilância mútua, hotizontal e vertical, a um império forte, com níveis de responsabilidade bem definidos. O resultado desta escolha, constantemente reafirmada na prática de gestão institucional prosseguida pela Coroa, é o mais paradoxal: a acumulação de poderes e a sobreposição de responsabilidades acabou por conduzir a um Estado imperial relativamente fraco mas centralizado, transformando-se a nebulosa de poderes intermédios numa forma flexível de gerir os problemas quotidianos, enquanto as estruturas de base adquiriam uma razoável capacidade de decisão, fundamental para a perpetuação do império. Este equilíbrio dinâmico conheceu diferentes configurações no espaço e no tempo.
A conquista de cidades e fortalezas, conduziu à difusão da figura do ouvidor, que acumulava as funções de auditor e de consultor jurídico do capitão, pronunciando com este as sentenças das causas judiciais que competiam à respectiva alçada. No Brasil, as sociedades indígenas apareciam aos portugueses como politicamente desorganizadas. Isto, para além de justificar, nos termos da doutrina de então, uma intervenção política mais direta, impedia quaisquer soluções de autogoverno. Daí que a exportação de modelos político-administrativos europeus parecesse inevitável.
Cabe ressaltar que no caso da colonizaçào portuguesa, houve diferentes padrões de colonização. Enquanto na Ásia predominaram colonização sobre cidades, atuando principalmente na exploração e controle do comércio, na África e América, a colonização occoreu em extensões territoriais maiores e na formação de uma organização política que sobrepôs-se às das sociedades que viviam lá anteriormente.
Após o início da colonização, verificou-se a necessidade da criação de tribunais superiores nas colônias, já que as demandas aumentavam e o deslocamento para a metrópole não contribuia para o controle metropolitano. Assim, foram criados em 1544 o Tribunal da Relação de Goa (Índia), em 1609 o da Bahia, e somente em 1750 o do Rio de Janeiro, ambos no Brasil. Os magistrados ocupantes dos cargos na Relação eram formados em Direito por Coimbra.
Em Coimbra, a formação em Direito era um processo de socialização destinado a criar um senso de lealdade e obediência ao rei. É bastante significativo que, durante a maior parte do período moderno, Coimbra fosse a única faculdade de Direito dentro do império português. Todos os magistrados do império, tivesse ele nascido nas colônias ou no continente, passavam pelo currículo daquela escola e bebiam seu conhecimento em Direito e na arte de governar naquela fonte.
Mais ainda, era importante a origem social da família e sua atividade atual pois teoricamente só poderiam entrar para a magistratura os homens cujo pais e avós vivessem sem necessitar fazer trabalho manual, artesanato ou comércio varejista. Exceções podiam ser feitas no caso em que o pai ou o avô do candidato tivesse pertencido ao senado da câmara ou à Casa de Vinte-quatro, órgão representativo da liga dos artesãos já que os membros dessas instituições gozavam de privilégios especiais possibilitando a seus filhos entrarem para o funcionalismo real. Para a Coroa, magistrados profissionais competentes de origem social relativamente homogênea e cuja ortodoxia religiosa e política era digna de confiança.
Com a Restauração em 1640, quando os portugueses sairam do domínio espanhol, aumentou o controle colonial e foram criados os juizes de fora nas principais cidades. Enquanto os juizes de fora eram visto pela historigrafia anterior como um controle maior da Coroa e assim redução do poder municipal, a nova historiografia os tem visto como hegemonizadores dos parâmetros jurídico-administrativos veiculados pelo poder central. A criação dos cargos de Juizes de Fora ocorreu em Goa em 1688; Bahia, em 1696; Rio de Janeiro, em 1703; e Luanda (Angola) em 1722. Foram criados com vistas a verificarem prejuizos à Fazenda Real, porém, logo de imediato participavam de todo tipo de ação.
Embora a competência e as relações entre autoridades civil e eclesiástica estivessem definidas na maior parte do Livro II das Ordenações Filipinas, os magistrados no Brasil descobriram que, entre seus maiores adversários, estavam os bispos intransigentes e briguentos. Se por um lado o Tribunal teve pouca ou nenhuma dificuldade com as ordens religiosas no Brasil, por outro, o conflito com o bispo era um fato quase inerente numa estrutura política dentro da qual a instituição eclesiástica mantinha seu sistema judicial próprio. O conflito no Brasil era apenas um capítulo da luta mais ampla entre a Igreja e Estado na Europa Ocidental; os magistrados no Brasil, porém, não se consolavam muito com este fato que também não ajudou a acalmar o calor do debate. Embora, a princípio, tenha sido promulgado um alvará determinando o retorno a Portugal de qualquer clérigo que se recusasse a obedecer os decretos da Relação, a legislação subseqüente não dava apoio aos magistrados e somente os advertia a agir com cautela e justa causa nas disputas com a Igreja.
Um exame cuidadoso indica que, na realidade, a Relação não tinha meios eficazes de coagir as autoridades eclesiásticas. A Relação podia promulgar decretos e interferir nas cortes eclesiásticas mas não exercia autoridade última sobre o bispo. O apelo a Portugal era um processo demorado e, enquanto este se arrastava, o prelado podia se recusar a obedecer as ordens do Tribunal. A Relação, sem contar com meios institucionalizados de controle, recorria a medidas extraordinárias tais como a chateação ou a suspensão dos salários eclesiásticos. O bispo, no entanto, tinha, sob forma de excomunhão e interdição, armas muito mais poderosas do que as que os magistrados podiam usar e ele não hesitava em empregá-las a fim de atingir os objetivos da Igreja, segundo sua interpretação do que fossem esses os objetivos.
Está fora de dúvida que os conflitos surgidos entre a Relação e outras instituições governamentais prejudicavam o desempenho das funções judiciais normais do Tribunal. Obviamente os choques de personalidade e as rixas pessoais contribuíam para essa situação mas não podemos explicar os conflitos da Relação simplesmente nestes termos. O governador colonial português consistia em jurisdições mal definidas e muitas vezes contraditórias e em poderes que, em última instância, dependiam das decisões metropolitanas. O sistema evitava que as instituições coloniais tivessem poder excessivo e obrigava que freqüentemente consultassem Lisboa. Em determinados momentos, este sistema foi reforçado pelos objetivos divergentes dos diferentes órgãos governamentais. Lembramo-nos, imediatamente dos diferentes objetivos da Igreja e do Estado que talvez possam explicar a constante luta travada entre o Tribunal e o episcopado. O conflito entre a Relação e os funcionários da Fazenda indica a existência de divisões dentro da burocracia civil.
Translation - English It was a mixed process in which the Portuguese were forced to impose their type of social organization as well as their legal system on various peoples. However, at the same time they were forced to accommodate varying social structures and new agents, like the Indians and later the Africans they enslaved and shipped to the Americas, thus confronting new situations.
As the new colonial societies formed, European legal systems, and especially Portugal’s, intertwined with native practices. The multifarious legal contexts were at one and the same time central for the building of the colonial order and the key to the growth of broad patterns of global structure, as Benton points out. Colonial societies would experience a legal pluralism wherein existing limits resided mainly in the cultural and religious aspects. This is most prominent in the Iberian states and the Reconquista, in which religious aspects were of great importance in controlling everyday life. The institutional order would not be purist in nature, but rather the fruit of multicultural contexts; colonial regions were distinct not only for their pluralist legal structures, but, more interestingly, these pluralist legal orders struggled among themselves. As soon as the European monarchies commenced the compilation of existing laws to ensure their preservation in written form, Europe saw the birth of law promulgated by the crown, as opposed to canon law.
The European crowns needed to assert control over the new areas which it strove to monopolize. At the time, colonialism forged an opportunity for a policy of legal pluralism, through specific patterns and strategic attempts to impose its legal system which often verged on aggression. The new colonial areas were the stage for legal disputes in the growth of the colonial order, which assumed disparate forms. Finally the colonial order was obliged to encompass new agents and interact culturally in the see of preventing perturbations of the colonial order resulting from the Metropolis’ efforts to monopolize power. Then colonialism engendered a situation propitious for a policy of legal pluralism,, by means of particular patterns and strategic attempts to impose its legal system which often verged on aggression. The new colonial areas became the stage for legal disputes in the uneven construction of the colonial order. In the end the colonial order was forced to encompass new agents and interact culturally in order to prevent rebellion in the colony as a result of the metropolis’ attempt to monopolize power.
Until the 14th century several statutes had already been promulgated and in 1446 were codified in the so-called Ôrdenes Afonsinas during the reign of Afonso V. as new laws arose, the need to amend old ones likewise presented itself. In 1521 Dom Manoel I promulgated the Ôrdenes Manuelinas, which became one of the crucial instruments in the governing of the colonial areas.
After the unification of Iberia in 1580 under the Spanish crown, Philip II of Spain showed his good will by granting the Portuguese a measure of autonomy in the reform of their legal system, while refusing political autonomy to Portugal or the infringement of his royal prerogatives. A commission completed the revision of the Ordenes Manuelinas about 1595, introducing the additions, repeals and corrections deemed necessary. It was not until 1603 that a new code – the Ordenações Filipinas – was issued. In the interim, the crown had instituted many of the planned reforms. Between 1581 and 1590 great changes were made in Portuguese judicial and administrative organization, that affected both Portugal and its colonies.
Furthermore the crown drew up a deliberate strategy of accumulating structures endowed with well-defined jurisdiction intended to act as checks on one another. The repeated approvals and consultations required by traditional procedure hampered Portuguese rule on the periphery of its empire, especially in situations that required flexibility, like military threats. Moreover the temporary nature of officials’ appointments throughout the empire gave the latter a makeshift quality that hindered the establishment of stable power structures and made it rely excessively on charismatic personalities. It seemed as if, instead of a strong empire relying on well-defined areas of responsibility, the crown preferred a precarious arrangement in which mutual vertical and horizontal surveillance among officials safeguarded the power of the supreme authority. A consistent royal policy of imposing overlapping jurisdictions and the accumulation of authority in chosen figures paradoxically led to a relatively weak but centralized empire in which the fog of intermediate levels of authority became a structure capable of managing day-to-day matters, while the base structures acquired that reasonable degree of power of decision that remained essential for the empire’s survival. This dynamic balance assumed various forms as time went by.
The capture of towns and forts led to the establishment of the position of ouvidor. This counselor and legal adviser of the captain pronounced together with him judgment in the cases that arose within the captain’s jurisdiction. In Brazil the Indian societies appeared politically disorganized to the Portuguese. This warranted not only more direct political intervention, in terms of the prevailing doctrine, but also the barring of any form of self-government, thus giving the importation of European political and administrative models the appearance of inevitability.
We should stress that Portuguese colonization followed two basic patterns. In Asia the Portuguese would conquer cities and then monopolize trade, while in Africa and the Americas they occupied extensive territories in which European political organization was superimposed on the existing societies.
Once colonization began, colonial appeals courts became necessary to prevent local cases from being appealed all the way to Lisbon. Thus in 1544 the Tribunal da Relação was established at Goa in India, in 1609 that of Bahia, and only in 1750 the one in Rio de Janeiro. The judges were legal scholars who had studied at Coimbra, Portugal’s oldest and most prestigious university.
In Coimbra legal studies were a process of socialization intended to engender loyalty to the crown. It is worthy of notice that during the modern period Coimbra possessed the only law school in the entire Portuguese empire. All colonial judges, whether of metropolitan or colonial birth, attended that school.
Legal training was not permitted for student whose parents were tradesmen or retail merchants. Exceptions were made for those whose father or grandfather belonged to the senado da câmara or the Casa de Vinte-quatro, the governing bodies of the guilds, who enjoyed special privileges regarding service to the crown, which relied on a class of professionally trained officials of relatively homogeneous social extraction and whose political and religious orthodoxy were beyond question.
When in 1640 Portugal once again became independent of Spain, control over the colonies intensified and local judges [juizes de fora] were appointed in the main towns. [Were these intermediate between the ouvidores and the tribunais superiors? From which courts were appeals made to the tribunais de relação? Confusing.] Whereas historians have traditionally regarded the local judges as agents of the crown that impinged on municipal powers, more recently local judges have been deemed as hegemonizers [or homogenizers ?] of the legal and administrative parameters ??? Local judges were appointed in Goa in 1688, Bahia in 1696, Rio de Janeiro in 1703 and Luanda (Angola) in 1722. While their original duties were restricted to investigating losses to the Royal Treasury, they very soon extended their purview to encompass all kinds of actions. The respective jurisdictions of civil and ecclesiastical authorities and relationships between them had been fixed on the whole by Book II of the Ordenações Filipinas. Nonetheless Brazilian judges soon felt intense rivalry from unyielding and belligerent bishops. Although the monastic orders never posed a threat to civil jurisdiction, the church's own system of courts inevitably entered into conflict with the civil courts, thus provoking prolonged vendettas with the local bishops. This struggle in Brazil is but a chapter in the wider conflict that was taking place between Church and State in Western Europe. But this fact was no consolation to Brazilian judges, nor did it help temper the heat of the debate. Despite an early edict commanding the return to Portugal of any cleric who dared defy an appeals court, later legislation failed to strengthen the hand of the civil judges, directing them to act with caution and moderation in disputes with the Church.
Closer examination shows that the appeals courts lacked the power required to curb the excesses of unruly priests. The civil courts were indeed entitled to issue decrees to and intervene in ecclesiastical courts, but exercised no decisive power over bishops. Appeals to Portugal were lengthy procedures, and pending final resolution, the bishop was free to do as he pleased. Lacking any institutionalized means of control, the civil court would resort to harassment or withholding of priestly salaries. But the bishops possessed the far greater power to pronounce excommunication or interdict, and did not hesitate to employ them in the pursuit of the Church’s goals as they saw them.
There can be no doubt that conflicts between the appeals courts and the other state organs hampered the courts’ effectiveness in the conduct of their judicial business. Although personal clashes and spite contributed to this deplorable state of affairs, they do not suffice to explain them. Portuguese colonial administration was afflicted above all by an absence of well-defined spheres of authority, indeed often by contradictions between overlapping jurisdictions. The intentional powerlessness of local authorities made them dependent at all times upon edicts from a distant metropolis that they were forced to consult for every major decision. At times the situation was aggravated by conflicting goals, as in the case of State-Church disputes, but also, within the civil administration itself, by rivalry between the appeals courts and Treasury officials.
French to English: French Legal Brief
Source text - French 14 - Ceci étant, l’Etat garde bien entendu un très large pouvoir d’appréciation. Par exemple, la Cour Administrative d’Appel de Paris dans un arrêt du 3 juin 1997 « Comité de Défense des Riverains de l’Aéroport de Paris Nord », req n° 96PA00287, a jugé que même en admettant qu’ils soient de nature, le cas échéant, à engager la responsabilité d’Aéroport de Paris envers les riverains, les troubles de voisinage causés par le fonctionnement normal de l’Aéroport de Roissy Charles de Gaulle ne présentaient pas un caractère de gravité tel que le Préfet en vue de les faire cesser puisse adresser à l’exploitant la mise en demeure prévue par les dispositions de l’article 26 de la loi du 19 juillet 1976 (il s’agit de la mise en demeure de faire cesser des nuisances) ; qu’ainsi la décision implicite du Préfet du Val d’Oise refusant de faire droit à la demande que le Comité de Défense des Riverains de l’Aéroport de Paris Nord lui avait adressée le 14 mai 1987 n’est entaché d’aucune illégalité, n’est constitutif d’aucun manquement de l’administration sur l’obligation d’assurer le respect de la législation en vigueur ».
15 - De ces jurisprudences il convient de retenir un certain nombre de points.
Premièrement les riverains d’un aéroport victimes des nuisances aériennes peuvent choisir d’assigner les compagnies aériennes qu’elles estiment responsables de ces nuisances ou l’Aéroport de Paris où se situent les opérations d’atterrissage et de décollage.
Deuxièmement, lorsque les riverains choisissent la solution concernant l’assignation des compagnies aériennes, celles-ci ont une action subrogatoire à l’encontre de l’aéroport à la condition qu’aucune faute ne puisse être invoquée à l’encontre de la compagnie aérienne, le simple fait que c’est l’implantation et le fonctionnement normal de l’aéroport qui sont la cause directe et certaine des troubles de voisinage subis par la commune.
Troisièmement, l’aéroport lui même ne peut se retourner contre l’Etat sauf à considérer que celui-ci a commis une faute, là encore c’est la faute lourde dans l’exercice des pouvoirs de contrôle ou la faute simple tenant à une décision illégale que l’Etat aurait prise qui doit démontrée.
Quatrièmement, la mise en œuvre de cette responsabilité suit quatre règles :
ce sont les juridictions judiciaires qui sont compétentes,
le dommage à réparer doit être apprécié à la date de la demande en justice et non pas du prononcé du jugement,
les demandeurs ne peuvent pas assigner toutes les compagnies utilisatrices de l’aéroport,
chacune n’est tenue de réparer que la part du dommage qui lui incombe.
II - Il convient donc, au vu de ces principes généraux de responsabilité d’analyser l’état actuel de la règlementation française et communautaire pour apprécier de manière plus fine la question des vols de nuit lié à votre activité particulière.
21 - Au niveau communautaire, au delà de la directive 92-14CE du 2 mars 1992 relative à la limitation de l’exploitation des avions relevant de l’annexe 16 de la Convention relative à l’Aviation Civile, la directive 2002/30/CE du Parlement Européen et du Conseil du 26 mars 2002, fixait les règles et procédures concernant l’introduction de restriction d’exploitation liée au bruit dans les aéroports de la communauté.
Reconnaissant la spécificité du problème du bruit dans les aéroports situés au centre des grandes agglomérations, et en autorisant l’adoption de règles plus strictes la directive permet l’intervention de restrictions d’exploitation pour prévenir une aggravation de la pollution sonore tout en visant à une bonne harmonisation pour éviter les distorsions de concurrence.
Le cadre de cette directive vise l’adoption d’une approche équilibrée des Etats lorsqu’il traite les problèmes liés au bruit dans les aéroports situés sur leur territoire.
L’article 4-2 précise « Lorsqu’elles envisagent d’introduire des restrictions d’exploitation, les autorités compétentes prennent en considération les coûts et avantages que sont susceptibles d’engendrer les différentes mesures applicables ainsi que les caractéristiques propres à chaque aéroport ».
Ainsi cette directive ouvre une voie légèrement différente de celle qui existait déjà sur la réduction progressive d’utilisation des aéronefs les plus bruyants.
En effet, la question n’est pas seulement celle de l’utilisation d’avions moins bruyants et de procédures d’approche plus précautionneuses de la qualité de vie des riverains ; elle est aussi la question des restrictions d’exploitation en fonction des différentes heures de la journée et plus précisément des questions de vols de nuit.
22 - Sur le plan de la loi interne, la loi du 12 juillet 1999 portant création de l’autorité de contrôle des nuisances sonores aéroportuaires a donné à l’autorité de contrôle des nuisances sonores aéroportuaires un droit d’auto saisine sur toutes les questions relatives à la mesure du bruit, habilitée à saisir l’autorité administrative de tout manquement aux règles fixées pour la protection de l’environnement sonore des aérodromes.
L’ACNUSA prononce également sur proposition de la Commission Nationale de Prévention des Nuisances les amendes administratives dans les conditions fixées par les dispositions des articles R.227-1 et suivants du Code de l’Aviation Civile.
En application de la directive 2002-30 du Parlement et du Conseil du 26 mars 2002, le décret du 28 septembre 2004 a introduit des restrictions d’exploitations liées au bruit sur certains aéroports et aérodromes et a modifié le Code de l’Aviation Civile.
Il s’agit des restrictions d’exploitation liées à des aéronefs déterminés particulièrement bruyants.
Par ailleurs, l’arrêté du 10 novembre 2004 a précisé les informations qui doivent figurer dans l’évaluation prévue à l’article R.227-9 du Code de l’Aviation Civile pour l’introduction des restrictions d’exploitation liées au bruit sur certains aéroports, enfin le décret du 23 décembre 2004 a modifié les conditions de calcul de la TGAP sur le décollage des aéronefs pour introduire d’autres paramètres : la masse maximale de l’aéronef au décollage, l’heure de décollage, les caractéristiques acoustiques de l’appareil et le tarif applicable sur l’aérodrome.
Enfin, l’arrêté du 6 novembre 2003 portant interdiction entre 0 heure et 5 heures des décollages d’aéronefs non programmés pendant ladite période horaire sur l’aérodrome Charles de Gaulle, interdit des décollages d’aéronefs qui n’ont pas fait l’objet de l’attribution de créneaux horaires de départ dans ladite plage horaire le jour en question.
L’article 2 de ce texte exclut la catégorie d’aéronefs dont manifestement votre société ne fait pas partie.
Un second arrêté du 6 novembre 2003 portant restriction d’exploitation nocturne de certains aéronefs dépassant un seuil de bruit au décollage ou à l’atterrissage précise la possibilité d’obtenir l’autorisation d’opérer des mouvements aéronefs dans les plages horaires de nuit à la condition qu’une méthode de conduite de vols reproductifs permet un impact environnemental reconnu par le Ministre chargé de l’Aviation Civile équivalent à celui d’un avions dont la valeur de certification acoustique correspondrait à celle mentionnée au 1) ou au 2) du présent article, c’est-à-dire moins de 99 EPN db pour le décollage, et moins de 104 EPN db pour l’atterrissage.
Translation - English 14 - This being the case, it is clearly understood that the State retains significant discretionary power. For example, in a ruling of June 3, 1997 entitled “Defense Committee for the Neighboring Residents of Paris Nord Airport”, case No. 96PA00287, the Paris Administrative Court of Appeals ruled that even admitting that they could eventually be of such a nature as to invoke the liability of Aéroport de Paris with regard to neighboring residents, the neighborhood disturbances caused by the normal operation of the Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport were not serious enough in nature that the Prefect could, in order to stop them, issue formal notice to the operator pursuant to Section 26 of the Law of July 19, 1976 (formal notice to cease disturbances); that therefore the implicit decision of the Val d’Oise Prefect to refuse to recognize the demand submitted to it by the Defense Committee for the Neighboring Residents of the Paris Nord Airport on May 14, 1987 is not illegal, and does not constitute any failure on the part of the administration to perform its obligation to ensure compliance with the legislation in force”.
15 – From this jurisprudence, it is appropriate to focus on a certain number of points.
Firstly, the neighboring residents of an airport that have been subject to aircraft disturbances may choose to file suit against those airline companies that they deem responsible for these disturbances or against the Aéroport de Paris where the landings and take-offs occur.
Secondly, if the neighboring residents choose the solution involving filing suit against the airline companies, these companies have recourse to indirect action against the airport on the condition that no civil wrong may be attributed to the airline company and it is the single fact that the location and normal functioning of the airport are the certain and direct cause of the proximity disturbances experienced by the town.
Thirdly, the airport itself may not take legal recourse against the State except in the event that the State committed a civil wrong, and even then gross misconduct in the exercise of its supervisory powers or ordinary misconduct regarding an illegal decision made by the State must be proven.
Fourthly, invoking that liability is subject to four rules:
the courts of justice are the competent courts,
the damages to be compensated must be evaluated at the date of the legal claim and not at the delivery of judgment,
the plaintiffs cannot file suit against all of the companies that use the airport,
each party is only required to compensate the share of damages attributed to it.
II – It is thus appropriate, in light of these general principles of liability, to analyze the current state of French and EU regulations in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of the issue of night flights related to your specific operations.
21 – At the EU level, in addition to Directive 92-14EU of March 2, 1992 regarding restrictions on aircraft operation derived from Appendix 16 of the Convention on Civil Aviation, European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/30/EU of March 26, 2002, established the rules and procedures regarding the introduction of operating restrictions related to noise at EU airports.
Acknowledging the specific nature of noise disturbance in airports located at the center of large urban areas, and authorizing the adoption of stricter regulations, the directive allows for the implementation of operating restrictions to prevent worsening of sound pollution while promoting coordination to avoid distortion of competition.
The context of this directive is focused on the adoption of a balanced approach for to be used by different countries to address problems related to the airports located on their territory.
Article 4-2 specified, “When planning to introduce operating restrictions the competent authorities take into consideration the costs and benefits likely to arise for the different applicable measures as well as the specific characteristics of each airport.”
Thus, this directive takes a slightly different tack than the previously existing directive regarding the progressive reduction in the use of the loudest aircraft.
In fact, the issue is not only related to the use of quieter aircraft and approach procedures that are more sensitive to the neighboring residents’ quality of life; it is also related to operating restrictions based on different hours of the day, and specifically to night flights.
22 – In terms of national law, the Law of July 12, 1999 regarding the creation of a supervisory authority for airport noise disturbance granted the supervisory authority for airport noise disturbance the right to self-refer all issues regarding noise measurement, with authorization to submit any failure to comply with regulations established for sound protection for the airfield environment to the enforcing authority.
ACNUSA also announced its decision, at the instigation of the French National Commission for Disturbance Prevention, on administrative fines under the conditions set forth by the clauses of Section R.227-1 of the Civil Aviation Code.
Pursuant to Directive 2002-30 of the European Parliament and Council of March 26, 2002, the Decree of September 28, 2004 introduced operating restrictions related to noise for certain airports and airfields and amended the Civil Aviation Code.
These are operating restrictions that apply to aircraft that have been determined to be particularly loud.
In addition, the ruling of November 10, 2004 specified the information that must be included in the evaluation cited in Section R 227-9 of the Civil Aviation Code for the introduction of noise-related operating restrictions at certain airports and the Decree of December 23, 2004 amended the GTPA [General Tax on Polluting Activities] calculation procedure for the aircraft take-offs to include additional parameters: the maximum mass of the aircraft at take-off, the time of take-off, the noise production of the aircraft and the fee applicable to the airfield.
Finally, the ruling of November 6, 2003 banning take-offs between the hours of midnight and five o-clock a.m. for any aircraft not scheduled during that period at Charles de Gaulle airfield prohibits the takeoff of aircraft that were not allocated a take-off time slot during that time period for the date in question.
Article 2 of this ruling excludes a category of aircraft that clearly is not relevant to your company.
A second ruling of November 6, 2003 regarding restrictions on nocturnal operation of certain aircraft that exceed a take-off or landing noise threshold specifies the possibility of obtaining authorization to operate aircraft within night timeslots, provided that the flight procedures result in environmental impact recognized by the Minister of Civil Aviation as equivalent to that of aircraft for which the noise certification level corresponds with that cited in 1) or 2) of this Article, namely less than 99 EPN db for take-off and less than 104 EPN db for landing.
Italian to English: Unification of Physics
Source text - Italian Brani da:
L’Unificazione della Fisica e la Teoria del Tutto: una nuova ipotesi teorica
dal Dott. Cesare Ammendola
Excerpt 1 Italian (p 3)
D’altronde, tale equazione restituisce alla coerenza e alla logica un paradosso fisico: in un corpo composto esiste un numero di atomi diversi, dai più elementari e leggeri, ai più complessi e pesanti, e ad ognuno degli atomi corrisponde un dato numero di elettroni, e ad ogni elettrone corrisponde la velocità orbitale dell’elettrone v. Di conseguenza, un corpo composto è costituito anche da una somma di velocità intrinseche, che ricaveremmo idealmente e approssimativamente moltiplicando v per il numero degli elettroni inclusi in un corpo. Che fine fa questa enorme quantità di moto esistente oggettivamente all’interno di un corpo fisico? È sensato pensare che essa non incida nelle interazioni tra corpi complessi, che, osservati nel loro insieme, appaiono fermi?
Secondo la QGD, la sommatoria dell’energia cinetica intrinseca ad un corpo composto non può sparire e non può non incidere nelle interazioni tra corpi complessi: essa è proprio ciò che il Modello Standard definisce “gravità”. E tuttavia la somma di velocità intrinseche risulterebbe notevolmente superiore alla velocità orbitale ascrivibile alla gravità, la velocità reale che riscontreremmo. Per comprendere che fine abbia fatto questo esubero, questo surplus di velocità, dobbiamo riferirci appunto alla legge di conservazione di massa ed energia, secondo la quale nell’universo la materia e l’energia variano, mentre la loro somma è costante, come espressa dalla relatività ristretta: E=mc². Generalizzando per i corpi composti, la “velocità complessiva interna”, la sommatoria dell’energia Σv in eccesso non si perde, semplicemente si è convertita in massa, secondo un processo già teorizzato dalla fisica classica e poi verificato in natura. Essa non scompare, poiché in natura nulla può sparire, ma piuttosto si trasforma. La velocità orbitale v è il risultato di questo processo.
Definiamo ora la massa del corpo composto a partire dalla quale subentra l’interazione elettromagnetica riferita ai corpi appunto composti e mediata dalla relatività ristretta (ovvero la gravità secondo il Modello Standard). Le premesse generali sin qui delineate non detterebbero limiti, dall’idrogeno in sù, riguardo all’entità di tale massa.
L’unificazione tra gravità ed elettromagnetismo, per essere corretta, deve però comprendere anche l’unificazione con la meccanica quantistica, ed è proprio la teoria dei quanti, in perfetta coerenza con i presupposti appena tracciati, a stabilire qual è il corpo fisico composto a partire dal quale diventa significativa l’interazione elettromagnetica riferita ai corpi composti e mediata dalla relatività ristretta (ossia la gravità secondo il Modello Standard).
Tale corpo composto non può avere una massa inferiore al valore che desumiamo dal rispetto di due relazioni fondamentali:
[equazione]
affinché l’interazione gravitazionale non sia annullata da un’insufficiente densità di materia che azzererebbe la curvatura dello spazio (corrispondente, nei termini della fisica newtoniana, all’attrazione gravitazionale);
[equazione]
affinché l’interazione gravitazionale non sia annullata dalla superiore energia quantistica del punto zero.
Come è noto, per la meccanica quantistica, la relazione fisico-matematica En=ћ/m L, la cui validità sperimentale è ampiamente accertata, descrive appunto l’energia del punto zero, l’energia interamente cinetica di una particella non soggetta all’azione di una forza. Tramite la mediazione della costante di Planck, essa riflette il principio per il quale un corpo fisico, preso in esame in un determinato volume di spazio, per definizione non può essere mai realmente fermo, pur non essendo soggetto all’azione di una forza, ed è caratterizzato, “relativamente ai punti dello spazio circostante”, da una quantità minima di moto relativo.
Excerpt 2 Italian (p 6)
L’idrogeno H è l’elemento più semplice dell’universo e di gran lunga il più comune, dato che costituisce il 75% della massa di tutta la materia visibile nelle stelle e nelle galassie. Ad esempio, una stella media come il Sole è costituita per il 73% da idrogeno, per il 25% da elio (anch’esso elemento molto semplice e leggero) e solo per il 2% da metalli.
Inoltre, esso ha un legame diretto con l’origine del cosmo, in quanto fu prodotto nel big bang. A partire da nuclei di idrogeno, vengono costruiti nuclei di elementi più pesanti, mediante il processo noto come nucleosintesi. I primi passi in questo processo di fusione nucleare furono compiuti nel big bang, quando una grande quantità di idrogeno fu convertita in elio all’interno delle stelle, in un processo noto come nucleosintesi stellare.
Peraltro, il postulato non è arbitrario perché esso ha una validità fisica strumentale, nella misura in cui è funzionale al calcolo preciso e coerente della somma di velocità intrinseche in un corpo composto. In un atomo complesso di massa mx, a differenza che nell’atomo di idrogeno, gli elettroni sono posti a differenti distanze dal nucleo e hanno dunque differenti velocità, per cui (sebbene per un divario comunque contenuto) non varrebbe l’equivalenza:
[equazione]
Tuttavia, la velocità è inversamente proporzionale alla radice quadrata del raggio, e la lunghezza d’onda dell’elettrone orbitante è inversamente proporzionale alla velocità. Per cui se diminuisce la velocità, aumenta in modo speculare la misura dello spazio occupato dalla particella in un dato istante (la λ = 2π a0 aumenta). L’indeterminazione quantistica relativa alla posizione e alla velocità dell’elettrone (Δx∙Δp = ħ) rimane costante e in termini geometrici (dato che v = d/t) questo dato giustifica il postulato.
Nel calcolare correttamente la somma esatta delle velocità comprese nel volume di un corpo composto, ancora una volta dobbiamo tenere presenti anche dei fattori geometrici, che alterano lievemente i valori considerati, e in particolare un fattore che produce uno scarto pari a 8•3/4π, ossia il rapporto che sussiste, a parità di raggio, tra il volume del cubo e il volume della sfera.
Excerpt 3 Italian (p 14)
Affermare che le proprietà osservabili di tutte le particelle elementari na¬scono dal fatto che alcune regioni dello spazio hanno particolari modi di rotazione significa inaugurare un modo di vedere le cose radicalmente diverso da quello adottato in precedenza: prima, per spiegare le differenze tra le particelle si sosteneva che erano fatte in modo diverso. Anche se si trattava di costituenti elementari, la loro materia non era omoge¬nea. La QGD rifiuta questo modo di pensare, affermando che la mate¬ria di cui sono fatte le forze e le particelle è sempre la stessa. Ogni particella elementare è “composta dallo spazio” e tutte sono assolutamente identiche. Le differenze visibili sorgono a causa dei diversi modi di vibrazione: quelle che sembrano particelle elementari di diverso tipo non sono che variazioni sul tema delle rotazioni dello spazio. L’universo, composto da un numero enorme di queste variazioni locali, è una grande danza cosmica.
Translation - English Excerpts from C Stoll's English translation of: The Unification of Physics and the Theory of Everything: A New Theoretical Hypothesis,by Dr. Cesare Ammendola
Excerpt 1 English (p 3)
Furthermore this equation renders consistent and logical a physical paradox: in a compound body there are a number of different atoms, from the most fundamental and lightest ones to the more complex and heavy ones; to each atom there corresponds a given number of electrons, and each electron has its orbital velocity v.
Therefore a compound body is made up likewise of a sum of velocities, whose approximate magnitude we can ideally obtain by multiplying v by the number of electrons contained in the body. Whatever happens to this huge amount of movement that exists objectively within a physical body? Is it reasonable to think that it does not affect interactions among complex bodies, which on the whole appear to be fixed in place?
In accordance with QGD, the sum of the kinetic energy intrinsic to a compound body cannot vanish and cannot affect the interactions among complex bodies: this is precisely how the standard model defines “gravitation” Nonetheless the sum of intrinsic velocities would be much greater than the orbital velocity attributable to gravitation, the real velocity that we will determine. In order to determine what happens to all this plethora, this surplus of velocity, we must refer to the law of conservation of mass and energy, in accordance with which the amounts of matter and energy in the universe vary but their sum is constant, as stated by special relativity: E=mc². Generalizing for compound bodies, the “internal total velocity”, which is the sum of excess energy Σv, is not lost, but rather simply converted into mass according to a process already determined by classical physics and then empirically confirmed. It does not vanish because in nature nothing vanishes; it is transformed. Orbital velocity v is the result of this process.
Now we define the mass of the compound body; from this mass electromagnetic interaction of compound bodies enters into play by virtue of special relativity (or gravitation according to the standard model). The general premises outlined hitherto would not provide limits, from hydrogen upward, for the magnitude of such mass.
However the unification of gravitation and electromagnetism, in order to be correct, must encompass unification with quantum mechanics, and it is precisely# quantum theory, consistently with aforesaid assumptions, that determines which is the compound physical body from which electromagnetic interaction between compound bodies becomes significant. This electromagnetic interaction is a consequence of special relativity (what the standard model calls gravitation).
The mass of this compound body cannot be less than the value determined by two fundamental relations:
[equation]
In order that gravitational interaction is not voided by an insufficient density of matter, which would reduce to zero the curvature of space (Newtonian physics calls this curvature gravitational attraction);
[equation]
so that gravitational interaction is not voided by the greater quantum energy of the zero point.
As is well known, for quantum mechanics the physical-mathematical relation En=ћ/m L, whose experimental validity has been fully vindicated, describes the energy of the zero point, the entirely kinetic energy of a particle not subject to action by any force. Through the agency of the Planck constant it reflects the principle by virtue of which a physical body, examined in a certain volume of space, by definition cannot ever be really at a standstill, although not subject to the action of any force, and undergoes a minimal amount of relative movement as defined with reference to the points in surrounding space.
Excerpt 2 English (p 6)
Hydrogen -- H -- is the simplest atom in nature and by far the most common, since it makes up 75% of the mass of all visible matter in the stars and the galaxies. For example a medium-sized star like the sun is composed of 73% hydrogen and 25% helium (likewise a very simple and light element), and only two per cent of it is made up of metals.
Furthermore, as a product of the big bang, the hydrogen atom is directly linked to the origin of the cosmos. The nucleus of the hydrogen atom is the building block out of which heavier elements are built through the process known as nucleosynthesis.
The first stages in this process of nuclear fusion were traversed in the big bang when a large amount of hydrogen was transformed into helium inside stars, a process known as stellar nucleosynthesis.
The postulate is not arbitrary for another reason, namely because it has an operational physical meaning: it can be used to compute exactly the sum of the intrinsic velocities in a compound body. In a complex atom with mass mx, unlike in the hydrogen atom, the electrons are located at different distances from the nucleus and consequently have different velocities, so that the following equivalence does not describe the actual facts, although it comes very close to doing so:
[equation]
Nonetheless the velocity of an electron is inversely proportional to the square root of the radius of its orbit, and the wavelength of an orbiting electron is inversely proportional to its velocity. Thus if velocity diminishes, the size of the space occupied by the particle at any given moment grows enormously (λ = 2π a0 increases). Quantum-theoretical uncertainty about position and velocity of an electron (Δx∙Δp = ħ) remains constant and in geometrical terms (since v=d/t) this fact proves the postulate.
To compute correctly the precise sum of the velocities comprised by a compound body, we must once again take into account among other things some geometrical factors which modify slightly the values in question, and specifically a factor that causes a gap equal to 8•3/4π, in other words the ratio between the volume of a cube and the volume of a sphere inscribed in it.
Excerpt 3 English (p 14)
To assert that the observable properties of all elementary particles spring from the fact that some regions of space have particular modes of rotation means to announce a viewpoint radically different from the one that has hitherto prevailed: formerly, the explanation given for differences among particles was that they were differently constituted. Even though they were elementary particles, their matter was not homogeneous. QGD rejects this way of thinking, stating that the matter making up both forces and particles is the same substance. Each elementary particle is “made up of space” and all are absolutely identical. All visible differences arise from their different ways of vibrating: those that seem to be elementary particles of a different kind are merely variations on the theme of the rotation of space. The universe, made up of a vast number of such local variations, is a huge cosmic dance.
German to English: Chemical patent
Source text - German Auch diese Umsetzung wird zweckmäßigerweise in einem geeigneten Lösungsmittel durchgeführt, in dem die Ausgangskomponenten gelöst oder suspendiert werden. Geeignet sind aprotische polare und unpolare organische Lösungsmittel, z.B. aromatische Kohlenwasserstoffe, wie z.B. Benzol, Toluol, Xylol; Äther, wie z.B. Dioxan und Tetrahydrofuran; Dimethylsulfoxid, Dimethylformamids N-Methyl-pyrrolidon.
Die Reaktion b) wird zweckmäßigerweise in Gegenwart eines säurebindenden Mittels durchgeführt, das den bei der Reaktion freiwerdenden Bromwasserstoff bindet. Als säurebindende Mittel können z.B. Pottasche, Soda, Natriumbicarbonat und dergleichen verwendet werden. Man kann jedoch auch einen molaren Überschuß des N-p-Hydroxybenzyl-piperazins der Formel V einsetzen, so daß das Molverhältnis zwischen dem Diphenylbrommethan der allgemeinen Formel IV und dem N-p-Hydroxybenzyl-piperazin der Formel V dann 1:2 beträgt. Das N-p-Hydroxybenzyl-piperazin der Formel V dient dann als Reaktionskomponente und als säurebindendes Mittel.
Die Umsetzung b) wird normalerweise bei Temperaturen von 50 bis 1500C, vorzugsweise bei 80 bis 1200 C, durchgeführt.
Die Verbindungen der allgemeinen Formel I können auch dadurch hergestellt werden, daß einem N-Benzhydryl-Nl-benzyl-piperazin der allgemeinen Formel VI
(VI)
worin R1 und R2 die oben angegebene Bedeutung besitzen und R3 ein durch Hydrolyse, Ätherspaltung bzw. Hydrierung abspaltbarer Rest bedeutet, der Rest R3 abgespalten und durch Wasserstoff ersetzt wird. Die Abspaltung des Restes R 3 wird je nach der Art des Restes R 3 durch Hydrolyse, Ätherspaltung bzw. durch Hydrierung vorgenommen. Geeignete Reste, die durch Hydrolyse abgespalten werden können, sind z.B. Acylreste, d.h. Reste von Carbonsäuren, insbesondere Reste niederer Carbonsäuren mit 1 bis 4 C-Atomen, wie z.B. der Acetyl-, Propionyl- oder Butyrylreste.
Geeignete Reste R3, die durch eine Ätherspaltung abgespaltet werden können, sind z.B. Alkylreste, insbesondere Alkylreste mit 1 bis 4 C-Atomen, wie z.B. die Methyl-, Äthyl oder Butylgruppe. Geeignete Reste R3, die durch eine Hydrierung abgespalten werden können, sind z.B. die Benzylgruppe und die p-Methylbenzylgruppe.
Die Abspaltung des Restes R3 erfolgt im allgemeinen nach folgendem Reaktionsschema:
Hierin steht Y für OH, H, Cl, Br, J.
Für Y = OH ist das abspaltende Agenz der allgemeinen Formel VII Wasser, das bei der Abspaltung eines hydrolytisch abspaltbaren Restes R3 z.B. bei der Abspaltung eines Acylreste, zur Anwendung kommt. Die Hydrolyse wird zweckmäßigerweise in wäßrigen Alkalilösungen, z.B. in verdünnter Natron- oder Kalilauge, durchgeführt. Die Temperatur bei der Hydrolyse beträgt normalerweise 20 bis 100°C, vorzugsweise 20 bis 50°C.
Für Y = H ist das abspaltende Agenz der allgemeinen Formel VII Wasserstoff. Die durch Hydrierung abspaltbaren Reste R3 können durch katalytische Hydrierung oder durch Hydrierung mit komplexen Hydriden, wie z.B. Natriumborhydrid, abgespalten werden. Die katalytische Hydrierung wird in einem geeigneten Lösungsmittel, beispielsweise einem Alkohol, wie Methanol oder Äthanol, bei Raumtemperatur oder erhöhter Temperatur durchgeführt. Die bevorzugte Temperatur liegt bei der katalytischen Hydrierung zwischen 20 und 50°C. Der Wasserstoffdruck beträgt 30 bis 100 bar, vorzugsweise 40 bis 70 bar Als Katalysator wird vorzugsweise Raney-Nickel benutzt, es können aber auch andere geeignete Hydrierungskatalysatoren, wie z.B. Raney-Kobalt, Platindioxid usw., verwendet werden. Die Abspaltung des Restes R3 durch komplexe Hydride erfolgt normalerweise so, daß das komplexe Hydrid, z.B. das Natriumborhydrid und das Ausgangsprodukt der allgemeinen Formel VI in einer alkoholischen, z.B. äthanolischen Lösung erhitzt wird. Im allgemeinen erfolgt das Erhitzen durch Kochen am Rückfluß. Zum Schluß wird Wasser oder Säure zugegeben und in üblicher Weise aufgearbeitet.
Ein durch Ätherspaltung abspaltbarer Rest R3, insbesondere ein Alkylrest mit 1 bis 4 C-Atomen, kann z.B. durch HJ, HBr, HCl, AlCl3, AlBr3 abgespalten werden. Hierbei werden Reaktionsbedingungen eingehalten, wie sie für die Ätherspaltung bekannt sind, d.h. die Reaktionstemperaturen können 60 bis 140°C, vorzugsweise 80 bis 110°C, betragen. Bei der Anwendung von HBr wird zweckmäßig in siedendem Eisessig als Lösungsmittel gearbeitet. Bei der Ätherspaltung mit Aluminiumchlorid oder Aluminiumbromid werden die Komponenten in Benzol, oder einem anderen geeigneten Lösungsmittel erwärmt und die sich bildende Aluminiumverbindung zum Schluß mit Wasser zersetzt.
In jedem Fall wird der Rest R3 der Verbindung der allgemeinen Formel VI durch Wasserstoff ersetzt.
Translation - English The preferred method for this transformation is likewise by introducing the initial substances in a suitable solvent in which they are dissolved or suspended. Suitable substances are aprotic polar and non-polar organic solvents, for example aromatic hydrocarbons like benzene, toluol or xylol; ethers, like dioxane and tetrahydrofurane; dimethylsulfoxide, dimethylformamide or N-methyl-pyrrolidone.
Reaction b) should be conducted in the presence of an acid-binding agent that binds the hydrogen bromide released during the reaction. As acid-binding agents one can use potash, soda, sodium bicarbonate and the like. However, one can instead use a molar excess of the N-p-hydroxybenzyl-piperazine with the general formula V, so that the molar ratio between the diphenylbromomethane with the general formula IV and the N-p-hydroxybenzyl-piperazine with formula V becomes 1:2. The N-p-hydroxybenzyl-piperazine with formula V serves then as a reaction component and as an acid-binding agent.
Transformation b) is usually conducted at temperatures between 50 and 150°C, preferably at 80 to 120°C.
Compounds with the general formula I can also be produced by eliminating and replacing with hydrogen the group R from an N-benzhydryl-N’-benzyl-piperazine with the general formula VI
(VI)
where R1 and R2 have the meanings given above and R3 stands for a group that is capable of being eliminated through hydrolysis, ether elimination or hydration. The method of elimination of the group R3 is determined by the nature of R3; it can be accomplished through hydrolysis, ether elimination or hydration. Groups suitable for elimination by hydrolysis are for example acyl groups; that is, groups of carboxylic acids, especially groups of shorter carboxylic acids with 1 to 4 carbons, e.g. acetyl, propionyl or butyl groups.
Groups R3 which are suited to elimination by ether elimination are for example alkyl groups, especially alkyl groups with 1 to 4 carbons, e.g. the methyl, ethyl or butyl groups. Groups R3 which can be eliminated through hydration are for example the benzyl and p-methylbenzyl groups.
Elimination of the group R3 generally takes place in accordance with the following reaction diagram:
Where Y stands for OH, H, Cl, Br, I.
For Y = OH the eliminating agent of the general formula VII is water, which is applied for elimination of a hydrolytically eliminable group R3, for example when an acyl group is eliminated. Hydrolysis is practical in aqueous alkaline solutions, for example in diluted soda or potash lye. The temperature for hydrolysis is usually 20 to 100°C, preferably 20 to 50°C.
For Y = H the eliminating agent of general formula VII is hydrogen. The groups susceptible to elimination by hydration R3 can be eliminated by means of catalytic hydration or hydration with complex hydrides, e.g. sodium hydroborate. Catalytic hydration is performed in a suitable solvent, e.g. an alcohol such as methanol or ethanol, at room temperature or at elevated temperature. The optimal temperature for catalytic hydration is between 20 and 50°C. The hydrogen pressure is 30 to 100 bar, preferably 40 to 70 bar. The best catalyst is Raney nickel but other suitable hydration catalysts may be used, for example Raney cobalt, platinum dioxide, etc. Elimination of the group R3 by means of complex hydrides is usually performed by heating the complex hydride, e.g. sodium hydroborate, and the initial product of general formula VI in an alcohol, e.g. ethanol, solution. In general the heating is done by boiling in reflux. Finally water or acid is added and reprocessed in the usual way.
A group susceptible to elimination by ether elimination R3, especially an alkyl group with 1 to 4 carbons, can for example be eliminated by means of HI, HBr, HCl, AlCl3, AlBr3, etc. When so doing, the reaction conditions for ether elimination must be met, namely reaction temperatures are 60 to 140°C, preferably 80 to 110°C. When using HBr, boiling glacial acetic acid is the indicated solvent. When conducting ether elimination with aluminum chloride or aluminum bromide the components are heated in benzol or another suitable solvent, heated and finally the resulting aluminum compound is decomposed with water.
In each case, the group R3 of the compound represented by the general formula VI is replaced by hydrogen.
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