Indian officials to probe Italian helicopter deal

NEW DELHI: Two Indian federal investigators will travel to Italy this week to meet with prosecutors probing allegations that the Italian company Finmeccanica paid bribes to obtain a 560 million euro ($750 million) deal to sell 12 helicopters to India.
Dharini Mishra, a spokeswoman for India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, said Sunday that a senior investigating officer and a law officer would travel to Italy, but she declined to give other details. Indian media reports said the CBI team would leave for Italy on Monday.
India’s Defense Ministry this past week asked the CBI, India’s equivalent of the United States’ FBI, to investigate the deal after Finmeccanica’s chief executive was arrested in Milan on charges he paid bribes to obtain the contract.
Prosecutors accused Chief Executive and Chairman Giuseppe Orsi in the arrest warrant of paying bribes to intermediaries to secure the sale of 12 helicopters in a 560 million euro ($749 million) deal when he was head of the group's AgustaWestland unit.
"AugustaWestland and its management seem to be used to paying bribes and we have reason to believe that such a corporate philosophy could be repeated in the future if not stopped through an arrest," Judge Luca Labianca wrote in the warrant, reviewed by Reuters.
Orsi's lawyer said his client denied distributing any money or pocketing a single euro.
Highlighting the political sensitivity of the case before the parliamentary elections on Feb. 24 and 25, Prime Minister Mario Monti said the government would deal with management issues at Finmeccanica. The state is the largest individual shareholder in the company with more than 30 percent.
"There is a problem with the governance of Finmeccanica at the moment and we will face up to it," Monti told RAI state television.
In a statement, Italy's economy ministry said it was working to provide management continuity, the protection of shareholders' interests and transparency in decision-making at the group.
India, currently the world's largest weapons importer, has a history of corruption in defense deals dating back to the 1980s.
Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony has ordered an inquiry into the deal to be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the country's federal police force. In a statement the ministry said Italy had not provided details of its own investigation.
An Indian defense ministry source said allegations that kickbacks worth 40 million rupees had been paid to Indian officials to grease contracts for Finmeccanica were being investigated and that Delhi was considering the deferral of the Finmeccanica helicopter deal.
Police searched Orsi's home and the offices of AgustaWestland, close to Milan. The Milan offices of Finmeccanica, Italy's second-biggest corporate employer after Fiat Spa, were also searched.