By Tom Rachman
The Associated Press

ROME - Police investigating fraud in the Parmalat scandal rummaged through the home of the food company's founder Wednesday, hunting for evidence to explain the stunning near-collapse of a one-time model of Italian industry.

The flailing company tried to save itself from further disaster, formally filing for bankruptcy protection Wednesday, as it had announced the day before. The Industry Ministry appointed a business-turnaround expert to develop a restructuring plan to save the Parma-based company, which employs thousands worldwide.

The case, dubbed by some as "Europe's Enron," has shaken this country's business leaders, who for years touted Parmalat as a proud symbol of northern Italian, family run enterprises that help drive the economy - among them the Fiat automaker in Turin, Benetton apparel in Treviso, and Premier Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset in Milan.

Since the scandal broke Friday, evidence has mounted of a vast hole in the company's balance sheet. The latest Italian reports said the total missing from Parmalat accounts could be around 10 billion euro ($12 billion) after a pattern of false accounting that may have dated back 15 years.

The scandal also raised questions about Italy's regulatory framework. Berlusconi has said the case damaged the country's credibility and reputation, and his government promptly intervened Tuesday with a bankruptcy-protection law tailored to save Parmalat and the jobs of 36,000 people it employs in 29 countries.

The government Wednesday appointed Enrico Bondi, who became Parmalat CEO this month after founder Calisto Tanzi was ousted, to the post of special commissioner under the bankruptcy-protection plan.

Bondi, who has a reputation as a corporate savior after rescuing chemicals group Montedison SpA from bankruptcy in the early 1990s, must draw up a restructuring plan, to be approved by the Industry Ministry.