Mumbai: Citigroup Inc has won $364.2 million as damages from Parmalat SpA in a case related to the Italian dairy company's 2003 collapse. The New Jersey state court convicted the Parmalat officials of committing fraud and negligent misrepresentation and conversion, amounting to theft.

Citigroup, however, claimed it was a victim of Parmalat's fraud and filed a countersuit.

The court, which has been hearing the case since May, awarded Citi $364.2 million for each of the fraud and misrepresentation charges and $210.2 million for the conversion charge, but capped total damages at $364.2 million.

Parmalat went bankrupt after faking documents of a 3.95 billion-euro ($5.34 billion) account at Bank of America Corporation. Parmalat later emerged from bankruptcy and returned to the stock market two years later, in 2005, under chief executive Enrico Bondi.

The jury ruled six-to-one in Citigroup's favour, after it found that the bank had no role in the collapse of the Italian dairy company.

Parmalat's new management filed the case against Citigroup seeking up to $2.2 billion in damages, for aiding corrupt executives at the Italian dairy company to loot it before it collapsed in 2003.

Its lawyers argued that Citigroup, which was a banker for Parmalat from 1994 to 2003, was willfully blind to looting by ex-CEO Calisto Tanzi and former finance chief Fausto Tonna, who are on trial in Italy for fraudulent bankruptcy.

Jurors awarded the case in favour of Citi as lawyers for Parmalat chief executive Enrico Bondi failed to prove that the bank aided in thefts that helped the company go bankrupt and instead ordered Parmalat to pay $364.2 million in damages to Citigroup

The jurors found that the food company instead had committed fraud, negligent misrepresentation and conversion.

Parmalat stock plunged 20 per cent in Milan trading following reports that the food company plans to pay damages by issuing stock.

Parmalat said it would challenge the verdict. ''Parmalat continues to believe that Citigroup played an important role in contributing to the financial collapse of the Parmalat Group," the company said in a statement.

Parmalat said the damages award would be presented to the bankruptcy court in Parma, Italy for review and any payment would be made in Parmalat stock. The company said it would ''continue to pursue all legal remedies at its disposal to hold Citigroup accountable for its role, including through ongoing Italian criminal proceedings."

The payment is expected to total 18.8 million Parmalat shares.