Lawyers argue that he was breaching banking laws by tipping off Mr Fiorani with market-sensitive information.

ECONOMIST: Italian finance

The Bank of Italy has access to lots of market-sensitive information, and it also sets interest rates.

ECONOMIST: Central banking

But early in February, he discovered that his secretary had been selling market-sensitive information to Inverlink, a local financial group.

ECONOMIST: What is going wrong in Chile?

It may also indicate that there is an emerging market for sensitive information and politically motivated attacks as crimeware networks seek to monetize such information and capabilities.

FORBES: Blurring the Boundaries Between Cybercrime And Politically Motivated Attacks

In the WikiLeaks era, where no communication can be considered secure, corporate leaders on the cusp of announcing market moving information have a need to be increasingly vigilant and ensure that sensitive information remains protected.

FORBES: Data Security: A Shareholder Protection Imperative

"For almost 10 years, the cartelists carried out the most harmful anti-competitive practices, including price fixing, market sharing, customer allocation, capacity and output coordination and exchanges of commercial sensitive information", the commission said.

BBC: Cathode ray tube in old TV