Deloitte Italy has launched a legal claim for damages against its former audit client Parmalat..

This follows Parmalat’s own legal pursuit of the firm for its role in the dairy group’s €14bn (£9.6bn) collapse.

In a statement, Deloitte said the counterclaim is for fraud, breach of contract, indemnification and for the intentional or negligent destruction of documents underlying the fraud, which led to the company filing for insolvency in December 2003.

The counterclaim has been lodged in the US although Deloitte has not said how much it is seeking.

Last month, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan upheld Parmalat’s claim that it should be allowed to continue with a $10bn (£5.4bn) lawsuit, not only against Deloitte in Italy but also against its international network Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as well against Grant Thornton International’s US and Italian firm which were also former auditors of Parmalat.

Parmalat claims the former auditors contributed to its collapse. However, in the counterclaim, Deloitte argues that as it was a victim of the fraud and that Parmalat should be barred from seeking damages from the firm.