Ex-finance head named in Monte Paschi asset seizure: prosecution

Some 40 million euros ($54.15 million) seized on Wednesday by Italian prosecutors in an investigation into suspected fraud against Monte dei Paschi belong to the former head of the bank's finance department and four others, according to the prosecution seizure order.

The order, seen by Reuters, named Gian Luca Baldassarri, former head of the department at the heart of a derivatives scandal that has rocked Italy's third-largest bank as well as the four others.

The five are suspected of criminal conspiracy to commit fraud, according to the prosecution document ordering the seizure. The assets seized were held under a so-called "tax shield" arrangement set up between 2009 and 2010 by Monte Paschi, the document said.

(Reporting by Silvia Ognibene)