ROME (AFP) - A Turin court on Thursday will begin hearing a lawsuit brought by Fiat boss Gianni Agnellis daughter, who is seeking full disclosure on the extent of the late industrialists vast fortune.
Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen "seeks to know the details of her fathers inheritance," according to a written summary of the lawsuit provided to AFP by her lawyers.
"She charges the advisers were denying a full accounting of it to her. ... It is curious that the true size of Gianni Agnellis fortune has never been made public," the dossier says.
Named in the suit are three of the late magnates trusted advisers, who may have stashed untold amounts -- some say the overall fortune could be worth up to five billion euros (7.3 billion dollars) -- in foreign bank accounts, according to press reports.
"Theres the estate in Italy, declared and divided normally," her lawyer Girolamo Abbatescianni told the weekly Panorama magazine. "Were just asking if theres more."
If so, he said, "we are asking that it be divided amicably."
It is a lonely battle for 52-year-old De Pahlen, Agnellis only surviving child, since no one else in the family dubbed Italys Kennedys wants any part of it.
The late Agnellis five sisters wrote to De Pahlen last June urging her to drop the suit, while her mother, Marella Caracciolo, branded the move "an act of ingratitude that betrays the will of Gianni Agnelli."
De Pahlens two better known sons, John (Fiats vice president) and Lapo, have also declared themselves shocked and saddened by the lawsuit.
The heiress is seeking a fuller accounting of her fathers vast estate five years after the death of the magnate nicknamed lAvvocato (the lawyer) despite having accepted the inheritance she received in a private deal reached in 2004.
Including the proceeds of the sale of her stake in Fiat, De Pahlen received 300 million euros in cash, plus real estate and artwork with a value estimated at some 500 million euros.
De Pahlens mother Caracciolo is named in the suit, but her lawyers insist this is "for mere technical reasons."
The two women are the sole direct heirs to the Agnelli fortune after the apparent suicide of his son Edoardo in 2000.
The three trusted former aides named in the suit are Franzo Grande Stevens, the executor of Agnellis will; Gianluigi Gabetti, the head of the Agnelli family holding company that owns 30 percent of Fiat; and Siegfried Maron, who manages private assets for the family.
Their lawyers will challenge the jurisdiction of the Turin court to hear the lawsuit, arguing that the 2004 inheritance accord was reached in Switzerland, where both De Pahlen and her mother reside.
"Besides, the three men are not managers of the estate. They were and are associates of the Agnelli group," a source close to the company told AFP.
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