意大利检方要求审判评级机构员工

Italian prosecutors have requested that five employees of Standard and Poor’s and two from Fitch be put on trial for alleged market manipulation connected to their downgrades of Italy’s credit rating.

意大利检方要求标准普尔(Standard and Poor’s)五名员工和惠誉(Fitch)两名员工就涉及下调意大利信贷评级的操纵市场指控接受庭审。

The prosecutors contend that the accused violated EU rules by releasing the downgrades when European markets were open and by not alerting the Italian government 12 hours before the decisions, dating back to earlier this year and last year, were made public. A judge must now decide whether to order a trial, a decision that could come in a few months.

检方称，被告在欧洲市场开盘期间发布下调评级决定，并且没有提前12个小时通知意大利政府，违反了欧盟(EU)规定。下调评级的决定是在今年早些时候和去年发布的。现在必须由一名法官决定是否下令开庭审理，该决定可能在数月后出炉。

“We have a very strong case and are quite confident that the judge will order the trial, said Carlo Maria Capristo, the head prosecutor in Trani, the town in southeastern Italy where the case is being investigated. “There are very clear norms set by the European Union that were not respected and this led to turbulence on the markets.

“我们证据确凿，相信法官会下令开庭审理，意大利东南部城市特拉尼的主检察官卡洛·马里亚·卡普里斯托(Carlo Maria Capristo)说。对本案的调查是在特拉尼进行的。卡普里斯托说：“欧盟制定的明确规范没有得到尊重，导致了市场的动荡。

The prosecutors, who began their probe following a complaint from two Italian consumer protection groups, decided not to ask for a trial for two employees of rival rating agency Moody’s who were also under investigation.

检方在两家意大利消费者保护团体提出申诉后展开调查，最终决定不要求对同样接受调查的另一家评级机构穆迪(Moody's)的两名员工进行庭审。

“These claims are entirely baseless and without any merit as our role is to publish independent opinions about creditworthiness according to our public and transparent methodologies, which we apply consistently around the world, S and P said.

标准普尔表示：“这些指控完全没有依据，没有任何可取之处。我们的职责是根据我们公开、透明、应用于全球的方法，发布有关信誉度的独立意见。

“We will continue to perform our role without fear or favour of any investor, debt issuer or other external party and to defend our actions, our reputation and that of our people.

“我们将继续勇敢、公正地履行职责，不偏袒任何投资者、债券发行方或外部机构，并捍卫我们与员工的行动和声誉。

Fitch could not be reached for comment.

记者无法联系到惠誉请其置评。