Home Complaints database Lady Lawyer Foundation vs. Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A
Complaint

Lady Lawyer Foundation vs. Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A

Italian bank and NGO property dispute

Date filed
17 July 2019
Keywords
Countries of harm
Current status
Rejected
Sector
NCP

Allegations

In July 2019, the Lady Lawyer Foundation (LLF), an Italian human rights NGO, filed the specific instance Lady Lawyer Foundation vs. Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A to the Italian NCP alleging that an Italian banking group breached the OECD Guidelines and acted out of alignment with the OECD financial sector due diligence guidance and its own guidelines for socially-responsible investment regarding the office property rented by LLF. According to LLF, s a result of a property dispute between the property owner and the bank, the bank began seeking a new buyer for the property. LLF asserts it offered to purchase the property and sought negotiation with the bank to agree to a purchase that would comply with Intesa Sanpaolo’ Guidelines for Socially Responsible Investments and 2018-2021 Plan of Action for the market price according to the expertise of the court expert witness. LLF felt a negotiation was appropriate in light of applicable law and also LLF’s non-governmental status and activities.

Relevant OECD Guidelines

Outcome

In its December 2019 initial assessment, the NCP declined to accept the case and support such negotiation. The NCP noted the bank asserted it received no written proposal for purchase. The NCP asserted the actions taken by the bank fell within the normal course provided for by the Italian legal system, and that any complaints related to this type of procedure should be brought to a judge with jurisdiction over the matter.

The complainant LLF is disappointed the NCP did not communicate with it following its comments to the draft final statement, and that the NCP did not share with the complainant the documents produced by Intesa Sanpaolo, upon which the complainant feels the NCP’s statement is wholly based.

More details

Defendant
Company in violation
Complainants
Affected people
Date rejected / concluded
5 December 2019

Documents