PARMA, Italy, Dec 9 (Reuters) - An Italian court sentenced the founder of Parmalat SpA to 18 years in prison yesterday for his role in the Italian dairy company’s 2003 collapse, Europe’s biggest corporate bankruptcy at the time.

Parmalat buckled in December 2003 under a 14 billion euro ($18.6 billion) hole in its accounts. Its demise wiped out the savings of more than 100,000 small investors who had bet on Parmalat’s investment-grade corporate bonds.

Calisto Tanzi, who was also Parmalat’s chief executive, was found guilty on charges of fraudulent bankruptcy and criminal conspiracy in the main trial in the northern Italian town of Parma over the scandal dubbed “Europe’s Enron”.

Prosecutors had sought 20 years in prison for Tanzi, 72. He is widely expected to appeal against the ruling, a process that can take years in Italy’s slow-moving justice system.

The Parmalat crisis erupted when it unveiled that a 4 billion euro bank account held by a Cayman Islands unit did not exist. Management sought bankruptcy protection and prosecutors launched a criminal fraud probe.

Despite its investment-grade credit rating, concerns had swirled for months over Parmalat’s failure to explain why it did not use abundant cash shown on its balance sheet to cut debt.

Parmalat was restructured and relisted on the Milan bourse in 2005. It has recouped more than 2 billion euros from settlements with banks including US investment banks Morgan Stanley and the former Merrill Lynch.