Parma, Italy, May 9 - Parma prosecutors have completed an investigation into the role that U.S. bank JP Morgan Chase might have played in the 2003 collapse of Italy's Parmalat, judicial sources said on Tuesday.
The investigation is one of many being conducted into the dairy group's demise under billions of euros of debt in 2003.
After an investigation is completed, prosecutors must decide whether to ask a judge to order the suspects to stand trial.
Prosecutors put three of the bank's managers, including Italian senior country officer Federico Imbert, under investigation for possible fraudulent bankruptcy, the sources, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
The other two are Gabriele Schiavi, formerly with Chase Manhattan which became part of JP Morgan Chase, and Alessandro Mitrovich, former Italian country head for Chase Manhattan, the sources said.
A JP Morgan Chase spokeswoman in Italy said the bank was confident its managers had acted appropriately in their dealings with the food group, and that it intended to defend them.
Parma prosecutors have focused their probe on specific bond placements between 1997 and 2001. JP Morgan was one the banks selling Parmalat bonds.
JP Morgan Chase is also one of four global banks involved in a separate Milan trial over Parmalat.
The banks deny any wrongdoing.
Parmalat, which has been restructured under Chief Executive Officer Enrico Bondi and has relisted on Milan's stock market, is separately pursuing its former bankers for at least 13.2 billion euros ($16.74 billion) in damages.
The company is also seeking 7.5 billion euros in revocatory claims, which allow a company under certain circumstances to claw back money paid to banks in the run-up to insolvency.