MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian judge has ordered former chairman of Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MI:BMPS) to face trial in a case of alleged usury, a court document said.
The decision by a judge in the southern Italian town of Lagonegro relates to interest rates that the bank applied to loans granted to a car dealer between 2001 and 2013 and that according to prosecutors were higher than the maximum level allowed by Italian legislation.
The judge said in the document, dated March 1, that Profumo was being indicted in his role as the legal representative of the Tuscan bank in 2013.
Profumo's lawyers, Adriano Raffaelli and Francesco Mucciarelli, told Reuters they were confident that he would be cleared of all charges.
Last week, the Italian Treasury proposed appointing Profumo as new chief executive of state-controlled defence group Leonardo (MI:LDOF).
