Mario Draghi, now head of the European Central Bank, was director-general of the Italian Treasury at the time, working with Vincenzo La Via, then head of the debt department, and Ms Cannata, then a senior official involved with debt and deficit accounting. Mr La Via left the Treasury in 2000 and returned as its director-general in May 2012 - with the backing of Mr Draghi, according to Italian officials.
An ECB spokesman declined to comment on the bank's knowledge of Italy's potential exposure to derivatives losses or on Mr Draghi's role in approving derivatives contracts in the 1990s before he joined Goldman Sachs International in 2002.