CHEATING

     
                                                     ITALY CHEATED TO INDIA

  An Italian appeals court on Thursday held that former chief executive of Italian defence firm Finmeccanica, Giuseppe Orsi, oversaw the plan to pay bribes to Indian officials to secure the 2010 deal for VVIP helicopters, worth Rs. 3,600 crore.

According to inputs from Italy, over Rs. 360 crore in bribes was routed to Indian intermediaries.

Mr. Orsi was first arrested in 2013 and spent 80 days in jail. Towards the end of 2014, a three-judge panel absolved him of corruption charges, but he received a two-year suspended sentence for forging invoices for routing payment.

According to reports, the Italian court also overturned the previous verdict in which Bruno Spagnolini, who succeeded Mr. Orsi as AgustaWestland CEO, was acquitted of corruption charges.

A senior official involved in the probe said the judgment could significantly boost the probe in India because certified court documents from Italy could be used as supplementary evidence in Indian courts. The Italian appeals court will publish its findings within two weeks.

The then Defence Minister, A.K. Antony, called in the CBI in February 2013 after Mr. Orsi was held in Milan.

The CBI registered a preliminary enquiry, but within weeks converted it into a regular FIR after sufficient evidence was gathered.

Among those named in the CBI FIR are Mr. Tyagi, his three cousins, Satish Bagrodia (a brother of the former Union Minister, Santosh Bagrodia) and Pratap Aggarwal (MD of IDS Infotech). The FIR also named four companies — Indian companies IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix and Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland.

According to inputs, over Rs. 360 crore in bribes was routed to Indian intermediaries