Criminal appeal dismissed; civil contract simulation not pre-judged by prior civil or arbitral rulings.

The Court of Cassation dismissed the criminal appeal against the Alessandria Court of Re-examination regarding fiscal and bankruptcy charges. The defense argued that the trial court erred by applying civil law norms to a contract whose simulated nature was not previously established by any civil judgment or arbitration award. The Court held that since no prior judicial decision had definitively ruled on the contract's validity or simulation, the trial court correctly applied civil law principles without violating the principle of res judicata.