A day after an Italian court acquitted two of its former top executives of corruption charges, Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica said on Friday it can reopen dialogue with the Indian Defence Ministry.
It had in January this year scrapped the `3,600-crore VVIP helicopter deal with AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of the Italian company, following charges of paying bribe to bag the contract for supplying 12 helicopters to IAF. Moreover, the Ministry last month barred Finmeccanica from participating in bidding process for future Defence contracts.
“The verdict (of Italian court) allows us to reopen dialogue with Indian Defence Ministry which was interrupted due to investigations into supply of helicopters to India,” Finmeccannica CEO Mauro Moretti said in a statement.He claimed that the verdict has “once and for all” released his firm from the damage incurred due to the charges in the last few years and hoped that it will allow it to get the reputation it deserves.
The firm, which is facing CBI probe in the helicopter scam with AgustaWestland allegedly paying a bribe of `360 crore for bagging the contract, claimed that a decree filed in an Italian court on July 25 also acknowledged that it has not indulged in any wrongdoing in the whole episode.
Moretti also expressed happiness that the position of two former bosses of Finmecannica Guiseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini has also improved after the verdict. Orsi and ex-AgustaWestland head Bruno Spagnolini were acquitted of corruption charges in the helicopter deal but were sentenced to two-year jail term on lesser charges of falsification of invoices.
The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate are still probing the case in India where former IAF Chief SP Tyagi and his cousins are alleged to be the beneficiaries and named in the FIR. The Enforcement Directorate has booked Tyagi, his family members, European nationals Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschke, four firms —Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland and Chandigarh-based IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix, two companies based in Mauritius and Tunisia, few other firms and unknown persons in CBI’s criminal complaint.
AgustaWestland and the Defence Ministry had inked the helicopter deal in 2010 and had supplied three helicopters to the IAF for ferrying VVIPs including the President and Prime Minister. The supply of remaining helicopters were put on hold early last year back when the bribe allegations came to light in Italy and the Indian government subsequently ordered a CBI probe.