Italian court sentences Finmeccanica CEO also
.jpg "Ex-Agusta head jailed on corruption charges")
Giuseppe Orsi. (Photo: AFP)
New Delhi/Milan: An Italian court on Thursday acquitted Giuseppe Orsi, ex-chairman of Italian defence giant Finmeccanica, of corruption charges in the Rs 3,600-crore Agusta-Westland VIP helicopter deal scam. However, it held Orsi guilty of “falsifying” invoices and ordered him jailed two years.
Agency reports said former Finmeccannica CEO Giuseppe Orsi and former AgustaWestland head Bruno Spagnolini were acquitted of charges of international corruption over alleged bribes paid to win a contract to sell 12 helicopters to the Indian government.
But both Mr Orsi and Mr Spagnolini were convicted of false invoicing and sentenced to two years in a separate case. They were also ordered to pay 1.5 million euros in compensation to the Italian tax authorities.
On January 1, India scrapped its contract with Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary, AgustaWest-land for supplying 12 AW101 VVIP helicopters to the Air Force for alleged breach of contract and charges of paying kickbacks of '360 crores to secure the deal.
Soon after the Italian verdict, the CBI and Enforcement Directorate, which are probing the case in India, said it would not have any impact on their investigation, and added any further reaction was possible only after they got a certified copy of the verdict.
Both agencies had booked former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi and 12 others under charges of bribery, cheating, corruption and money-laundering. These include Air Chief Marshal Tyagi’s cousins Sanjeev alias Julie, Rajeev alias Docsa and Sandeep.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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