Parretti Associates Ousted at Pathe

Call it the purging of Parretti.

After months of bitter jockeying, opponents of mercurial Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti on Monday stripped his associates of any lingering control of Pathe Communications Corp., the parent of MGM.

“We have suspended all the Parretti-affiliated officers. And their future role--if any--is under review,” said Dennis C. Stanfill, the recently named MGM co-chairman and co-chief executive who, along with Alan Ladd Jr., was installed Monday in the same posts at Pathe Communications.

Charles R. Meeker was named president and chief financial officer.

Stanfill termed Monday’s events “very significant,” noting that representatives of MGM and its crucial capital source--the French bank Credit Lyonnais--will now gain unfettered access to Pathe’s books and operations.

“We have been denied access to that company’s books, records and operations and therefore are not informed of its business and financial activities,” Stanfill said, adding that the new leadership “now can move forward in a cohesive manner. . . . It was time to take control of that operation.”

Confirmation of MGM and Credit Lyonnais’ determination to vanquish any remaining Parretti influence came Monday at a special board meeting convened at 10 a.m.

At 11:30 a.m., according to Stanfill, a handful of lawyers and newly installed officers, including Meeker, entered the fifth-floor offices of Pathe on San Vicente Boulevard.

“They’re reviewing the books right now,” Stanfill said late Monday.

Richard C. Klein, a publicist who has spoken on Parretti’s behalf, said that because of Monday’s action, he and his firm have lost a client.

“We are officially no longer part of Pathe Communications Corp.,” Klein said. “In essence, we have been terminated as (public relations) counsel.”

Parretti, whose base of operations remains in Italy, has said he intends to try to regain control of MGM.