Indian Probe on Finmeccanica Intensifies

By Marc Castro

Feb 21, 2013 03:41 PM EST

Indian officials would be travelling to Italy to further investigate allegations of corruption and bribey allegations against Italian defense firm Finmeccanica. This stems from a helicopter deal valued at Eur560 million or US$748 million. The investigation team would be led by Arun Kumar Bal, a joint secretary of the Indian Defense ministry.

The team would gather evidence as well as meet with Italian officials to obtain documents on the 2010 purchase of twelve AW101 helicopters from AgustaWestland, a division of Finmeccanica based in the United Kingdom. The probe was instigated after Finmeccanica's CEO Giuseppe Orsi was arrested last Tuesday and his resignation the next day.

The arrest came after a two year investigation by Italian officials of alleged international fraud and corruption committed by Mr. Orsi during his tenure as CEO of the Italian defense firm's subsidiary AgustaWestland. The arrest warrant detailed Orsi's participation in the bribery of Indian officials through three different intermediaries in order to land the helicopter purchase contract with the Indian Defense Ministry. 

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