An Italian court has ordered that the eldest daughter of Parmalat founder Mr Calisto Tanzi should be released from jail, three weeks after her arrest, judicial sources said.
Ms Francesca Tanzi, who served on the board of the family's travel firm Parmatour, was arrested on February 17th.
She has denied having a real management role, but her arrest warrant said she must have known about €145 million diverted out of Parmalat and into Parmatour holding company HIT.
Parma's acting head prosecutor, Mr Vito Zincani, said the decision to release Ms Francesca Tanzi did not mean she would be taken off a list of people being investigated by magistrates.
Former HIT chief executive Mr Fabio Branchi, under house arrest since last month, was also released on Monday because of ill-health, the sources said.
The former chairman of Parmatour, Mr Romano Bernardoni, was instead granted house arrest by a court in Bologna after two weeks in jail. Mr Bernardoni, arrested on suspicion of criminal association and of making false statements to the market, was the most recent arrest in the scandal.
Francesca's brother, Mr Stefano Tanzi, remains under arrest along with 16 other people, including the dairy group's founder.
Parmalat has been at the centre of an international fraud investigation since it revealed a multi-billion euro accounting hole in December. Prosecutors are investigating how Parmalat used billions of euros raised in bonds.
