Tanzi was an hour late for the start of the proceedings. His lawyers blamed Milan's traffic.

The founder and former boss of Parmalat has appeared in a Milan court in the first major trial over the Italian dairy giant's collapse almost two years ago in one of Europe's biggest corporate fraud scandals.

Calisto Tanzi and 15 others face charges of market rigging, false auditing and misleading Italy's stock market regulator and investors.

Dozens of those investors gathered outside the Milan courthouse hearing the trial as the proceedings opened. Tanzi arrived one hour late and assumed a seat in the front row.

One of his lawyers said he had been caught in traffic. After about an hour in court, Tanzi left.

The trial was adjourned to December 2 to allow the court time to consider a request from investors to join a civil suit linked to the criminal case.

Also on trial are three bank executives and two auditors from the Italian branch of Deloitte & Touche and the former Italian branch of Grant Thornton.

One of the defendants, Giovanni Bonici -- former chairman of Parmalat Venezuela and the Cayman Islands-based subsidiary at the center of the bankruptcy -- was one of the few of the other accused to appear in the court.

"I am as much of a victim as the investors," he was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.

The defendants face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.

Defense lawyers said on Tuesday that Tanzi would cooperate during the trial.

"He knows what his responsibilities are," Giampiero Biancolella, one of Tanzi's attorneys, told the Associated Press.

"What we want is to help reconstruct faithfully what happened at Parmalat so the judge can make a decision based on that reconstruction."

Months of investigation followed, uncovering a tangle of offshore companies and accounts.

Prosecutors said Parmalat's old management created them to paper over a gaping debt of nearly ?4 billion ($16.9 billion).

Authorities declared the company bankrupt and overnight , tens of thousands of stocks and bonds holders were left holding worthless paper.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called an emergency cabinet meeting in the wake of the collapse, but measures agreed then have still not been passed into law.

(Agencies)

adjourn : break from a meeting or gathering（延期，休會）

overnight: happening in a short time or with great speed（一夜間；在晚上；在夜里）