The Italian tax authorities are investigating the estate of Gianni Agnelli, the late chairman of Fiat, following a fierce family dispute over his assets that has exposed the internal dynamics of Italy’s wealthiest industrial dynasty.
The probe follows allegations in 2007 by Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen, Mr Agnelli’s daughter, that she had been denied part of her inheritance from the estate of her father because some €1bn ($1.4bn) in undeclared assets had been held in Swiss bank accounts.
Her allegations rocked the family and sparked a storm of publicity in Italy, where Mr Agnelli, who died in 2003, was often referred to as the country’s uncrowned king.
The allegations were strongly denied by Marella Agnelli, her mother and widow of l’Avvocato, as the late Fiat boss was usually called. But they have ended up in the Italian courts and opened a bitter feud within the family.
Attilio Befera, director of the Agenzia delle Entrate, Italy’s tax-collecting agency, told an Italian TV news programme on Wednesday evening that an investigation into the Agnelli estate had been opened “following various reports from the heirs [to the estate] about the existence of assets abroad.” The report said that about €1bn in alleged undeclared assets was under investigation.
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