Facts
The Public Prosecutor's Office at the Ordinary Tribunal of Milan submitted in 1996 a request for judicial assistance in the context of criminal proceedings initiated against several persons for the offences of corruption and false accounting, related to the Institute [Z.] for the financing of economic activities in Southern Italy. According to the Italian Authority, [Q.] would have created substantial financial resources, part of which were deposited in Swiss bank accounts held by the companies [X.] and [Y.] . The Office of the Attorney General of the Confederation (OAG) ordered the identification and seizure of these accounts. The companies opposed the handover of the bank documents, but the OAG ultimately ordered the full transmission of the documentation. Against this decision, the companies [X.] and [Y.] filed an administrative appeal to the Federal Tribunal.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal dismissed the appeal. It first noted that the request to grant the appeal suspensive effect was superfluous, as the appeal against the final decision authorizing the transmission of information abroad has suspensive effect by law.
On the merits, the Tribunal considered the appellants' criticisms to be unfounded. In particular, it stated that the admissibility of the initial request for judicial assistance had already been established in previous decisions, and that the supplement of July 7, 1997 did not present any gaps. According to the Tribunal, the letter of request indicated that [Q.] had used the companies [X.] and [Y.] to carry out banking operations aimed at concealing substantial financial resources, including for…