Major Shaitan Singh
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With a few typewritten lines, magistrates have closed the legal affair that led the former president and CEO of Finmeccanica, Giuseppe Orsi, and the former CEO of AgustaWestland, Bruno Spagnolini, being charged with bribery over the sale of 12 AgustaWestland helicopters (a Finmeccanica unit, of which Orsi was CEO at the time—Ed.) to the Indian government. An international contract worth €556 million, of which the prosecution claimed €51 million were used to pay bribes to secure the contract.
Magistrates in Naples began the investigation in 2010, but the case was transferred to Busto Arsizio in 2013 by the Attorney General of the Supreme Court. The investigation was sparked by the former head of external relations of Finmeccanica, Lorenzo Borgogni, who told magistrates that bribes had been paid, some of them -- about 10 million euros – to the Northern League, a right-wing political party.
These allegations led to charges of illegal financing being filed against Orsi, Spagnolini and three other suspects, and created a legal “storm” around the Northern League, which was already struggling with a separate investigation into the “cheerful” financial management by its former treasurer, Belsito. The Northern League has always denied any link to the helicopter sale, and its secretary at the time -- and now governor of Lombardy, Roberto Maroni -- had filed a complaint for slander against Borgogni in Busto Arsizio.
Two years later, at the request of the same magistrate, the investigating judge of Busto Arsizio, Luca Labianca, has now dropped the case on the grounds that the hypothesis of illicit payments to the League "has always remained in the background, but no confirmation has ever been found despite investigations." In short, there is no evidence "that can be sustained" in court. Case closed.
"I've always said that the hypothesis of financing the League through the sale of the AW 101 helicopters to India was a complete invention," Giuseppe Orsi, the former CEO of Finmeccanica, told AdnKronos after the charges were dropped. The story, Orsi said, was "orchestrated slander by someone who will now have to answer for it."
The current secretary of the Northern League, Matteo Salvini, is incredulous at the silence that has greeted the dropping of the bribery charges. "Unbelievable. We were vilified for weeks. There were dozens of front pages of slander, and now there’s not a single word. We said from the outset -- adds Salvini -- that the League had not been given a single euro yet we were vilified for months.”
From Tel Aviv, Maroni said "I am also waiting for excuses over the false Finmeccanica bribery claims, as I was reeled in, wire-tapped and followed for years on the basis of an obvious falsehood. I express solidarity with Giuseppe Orsi, and with all those whose lives were ruined by those four rascals. Will someone ever pay for the damage that this affair has done to the League, to the companies of the Finmeccanica group, and to Italy?"
(EDITOR’S NOTE: By dropping the final charges still standing, the prosecution has acknowledged that it never had a valid case to prosecute, and that the two Finmeccanica executives were charged and put on trial on the uncorroborated allegations of a single person, Lorenzo Borgogni, who had been fired by Orsi.
This is a new embarrassment for the Italian judiciary, since a single investigating magistrate – Eugenio Fusco, to give him his due -- was able to charge and prosecute two top executives at one of the country’s largest companies on the basis of lies.
Although the charges are now known to be false, as many had maintained from the beginning, the two executives have nonetheless lost their jobs, the Indian government has canceled the €560 million contract, AgustaWestland has had to pay hundreds of million euros in surety and performance bonds, and countless people had had their reputations ruined. Who will pay for the damages suffered?
And it’s not over yet.
India is continuing its own investigations, and although having so far failed to find any evidence of bribery – which the Italian court says never happened – its Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation have not dropped charges against over a dozen people.
Not a glorious episode for Italy’s judicial system, nor for India’s politicians who jumped the gun by canceling the contract with no evidence, nor for India’s police.
Finally, those who have followed this sad affair from the beginning will remember that the investigations in Italy began after stories alleging bribery were published in the Indian media, sparked by parliamentary questions by a handful of MPs.
Proponents of conspiracy theories could have a field day digging into when, how and with whose assistance this affair was artificially created, inflated and prosecuted until the day – yesterday – when it inevitably deflated under its own weight.)
Northern League Money for Helicopters to India: Magistrates Drop Charges; Orsi and Salvini: "Now, We Want Excuses"
Magistrates in Naples began the investigation in 2010, but the case was transferred to Busto Arsizio in 2013 by the Attorney General of the Supreme Court. The investigation was sparked by the former head of external relations of Finmeccanica, Lorenzo Borgogni, who told magistrates that bribes had been paid, some of them -- about 10 million euros – to the Northern League, a right-wing political party.
These allegations led to charges of illegal financing being filed against Orsi, Spagnolini and three other suspects, and created a legal “storm” around the Northern League, which was already struggling with a separate investigation into the “cheerful” financial management by its former treasurer, Belsito. The Northern League has always denied any link to the helicopter sale, and its secretary at the time -- and now governor of Lombardy, Roberto Maroni -- had filed a complaint for slander against Borgogni in Busto Arsizio.
Two years later, at the request of the same magistrate, the investigating judge of Busto Arsizio, Luca Labianca, has now dropped the case on the grounds that the hypothesis of illicit payments to the League "has always remained in the background, but no confirmation has ever been found despite investigations." In short, there is no evidence "that can be sustained" in court. Case closed.
"I've always said that the hypothesis of financing the League through the sale of the AW 101 helicopters to India was a complete invention," Giuseppe Orsi, the former CEO of Finmeccanica, told AdnKronos after the charges were dropped. The story, Orsi said, was "orchestrated slander by someone who will now have to answer for it."
The current secretary of the Northern League, Matteo Salvini, is incredulous at the silence that has greeted the dropping of the bribery charges. "Unbelievable. We were vilified for weeks. There were dozens of front pages of slander, and now there’s not a single word. We said from the outset -- adds Salvini -- that the League had not been given a single euro yet we were vilified for months.”
From Tel Aviv, Maroni said "I am also waiting for excuses over the false Finmeccanica bribery claims, as I was reeled in, wire-tapped and followed for years on the basis of an obvious falsehood. I express solidarity with Giuseppe Orsi, and with all those whose lives were ruined by those four rascals. Will someone ever pay for the damage that this affair has done to the League, to the companies of the Finmeccanica group, and to Italy?"
(EDITOR’S NOTE: By dropping the final charges still standing, the prosecution has acknowledged that it never had a valid case to prosecute, and that the two Finmeccanica executives were charged and put on trial on the uncorroborated allegations of a single person, Lorenzo Borgogni, who had been fired by Orsi.
This is a new embarrassment for the Italian judiciary, since a single investigating magistrate – Eugenio Fusco, to give him his due -- was able to charge and prosecute two top executives at one of the country’s largest companies on the basis of lies.
Although the charges are now known to be false, as many had maintained from the beginning, the two executives have nonetheless lost their jobs, the Indian government has canceled the €560 million contract, AgustaWestland has had to pay hundreds of million euros in surety and performance bonds, and countless people had had their reputations ruined. Who will pay for the damages suffered?
And it’s not over yet.
India is continuing its own investigations, and although having so far failed to find any evidence of bribery – which the Italian court says never happened – its Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation have not dropped charges against over a dozen people.
Not a glorious episode for Italy’s judicial system, nor for India’s politicians who jumped the gun by canceling the contract with no evidence, nor for India’s police.
Finally, those who have followed this sad affair from the beginning will remember that the investigations in Italy began after stories alleging bribery were published in the Indian media, sparked by parliamentary questions by a handful of MPs.
Proponents of conspiracy theories could have a field day digging into when, how and with whose assistance this affair was artificially created, inflated and prosecuted until the day – yesterday – when it inevitably deflated under its own weight.)
Northern League Money for Helicopters to India: Magistrates Drop Charges; Orsi and Salvini: "Now, We Want Excuses"
