Former Bank of Italy chief Fazio cleared of market-rigging in 2005 BNL case

The takeover pitted Italian insurer Unipol against Spain's BBVA for control of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL).

After nearly a decade of trials and appeals, Italy's top court ruled on Wednesday night that Fazio and 12 other defendants, including former Unipol chief Giovanni Consorte, were innocent of the charges.

In the end neither bid for BNL was successful and the bank was taken over by French group BNP Paribas.

Fazio was definitively found guilty of market-rigging in 2012 for his role in another bank takeover case, also in 2005, in which Banca Popolare di Lodi tried to buy Banca Antonveneta.

Due to the controversy surrounding that case, Fazio was forced out of the Bank of Italy at the end of 2005 to be replaced by Mario Draghi, now head of the European Central Bank. (Reporting by Ilaria Polleschi, writing by Gavin Jones Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)