Parmalat products are found on most Italian breakfast tables

Bank of America on Friday filed a claim for damages against some of Parmalat's former executives in an Italian court.

Separately, Grant Thornton requested that an injunction protecting Parmalat from being sued in the US be lifted.

Bank of America and Grant Thornton worked closely with the Italian food firm prior to its collapse last year in Italy's biggest ever corporate scandal.

Tangled web

Debt-laden Parmalat was declared insolvent in December 2003 after it emerged that 4 billion euros ($5bn ; �2.8bn) it supposedly held in an offshore account did not in fact exist.

Bank of America said it was seeking compensation for losses "caused by the fraudulent behaviour" allegedly committed by former Parmalat executives.

Grant Thornton International said it wanted the injunction lifted "so we have the ability to counter-claim and seek discovery against Parmalat."

Earlier this year, Parmalat's government-appointed administrators filed lawsuits against Bank of America and Grant Thornton, accusing it of helping the company's former managers to hide the true state of its finances.

Bank of America and Grant Thornton, along with Citigroup and Deloitte and Touche, are fighting a separate claim for damages filed by Parmalat's former shareholders and bondholders, who lost out heavily when the firm went bust.

The legal counter-attack came as a Milan court held the second in a series of hearings designed to determine whether 27 former Parmalat executives, along with the Italian offices of Bank of America and Grant Thornton, should face prosecution over their alleged role in the affair.