International corruption, search warrants carried out at Agusta Westland

Hidden funds, international corruption and bribery. These are the new accusations that have been made against the former heads of Agusta Westland, the company, that is part of the Finmeccanica Group, that is already involved in an enquiry, by the Office of Public Prosecutions in Busto Arsizio, into bribes paid to members of foreign governments to ease negotiations over the sale of helicopters. In this case, the investigation, which began in 2014, is into negotiations with the Algerian government, over 6 AW 101 Merlin helicopters.

It was the Revenue Guard Corps in Varese who gave the news. “This morning, the Revenue Guards of Varese began carrying out 41 search warrants, together with other offices around the country, in the provinces of Varese, Milan, Bergamo, Genoa, Novara, Padua, Sassari, Syracuse, Treviso and Udine. The enquiry, which began in 2014, concerns the crime of international corruption (Art. 322 b, of the Italian penal code) and the use of invoices for inexistent operations (Art. 2, of Italian Legislative Decree No. 74/2000).”

The crime is similar to that of the previous enquiry into bribes paid to a senior official in the Indian government. It is believed that “hidden funds” were generated, with invoices for inexistent operations, and subsequently used to help the Italian multinational win bids to supply helicopters to the government of the Republic of Algeria, in the years 2009-2011.

However, last 9 October, the Court of Busto Arsizio acquitted the former directors, Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, of the charge of international corruption, over a presumed bribe paid during the sale of helicopters to the government in New Delhi.