Italy opens probe into ratings agencies over 2011, 2012 cuts
ROME (Reuters) - The Corte dei Conti, Italy's main public audit body, has informed three rating agencies that it has opened an investigation into cuts in Italy's sovereign debt ratings in 2011 and 2012, the prosecutor in charge of the case said on Wednesday.
In their investigation, Corte dei Conti prosecutors allege that the cuts by ratings agencies Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch Investor Service -- which came during the worst periods of the euro-zone debt crisis -- were unjustified and cost the Italian state more than 117 billion euros (97.07 billion pounds), the prosecutor in the Lazio region, Raffaele De Dominicis, told Reuters.
De Dominicis said the agencies had two months to respond to the Corte dei Conti letter. Prosecutors would then have a further four months to decide how to proceed.
A spokesman for Standard and Poor's described the allegations as "frivolous and entirely without merit". Moody's said the allegations were "without merit."
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni)
