AgustaWestland Indian Bribery Charge Based On “Rumours”

Charges that AgustaWestland paid bribes worth Euro 51 million to “agents” to swing a deal for 12 VVIP helicopters for the Indian Air Force are based on the statements of Lorenzo BORGOGNI, former head of external relations for Finmeccanica who has claimed during cross examination that the information about the bribery was based on “rumours” he had heard within the company. According to a transcript of BORGOGNI’s cross examination held on November 15, 2012 at the court of Naples in the presence of deputy public prosecutor Vincenzo Piscitelli, the former claimed that there had been two “agreements” between certain individuals within AgustaWestland and each of the suspected agents-Guido Ralph HASCHKE and Michel CHRISTIAN to pay bribes worth Euro 41 million which was later hiked to 51 million. However, under cross-examination, BORGOGNI said that he was not sure of the amount of bribe, “I can't tell you this with any accuracy, I only know that the payout was around forty-one million and I heard rumours in the company that Orsi (Giuseppe ORSI, former Managing Director of Finmeccanica) had various meetings with this individual from Lugano (later clarified as HASCHKE) with a view to increasing the payout to fifty-one million”. Upon further cross examination as to the nature of the rumours concerning the agreements, if these were “mediation agreements” and if these were between AgustaWestland and each of the individuals or companies, BORGOGNI said, “they come from within the company and are heard by a series of people and then they come and report back to me, you know...”. When pressed further by the prosecutor if BORGOGNI had done any checks on these rumours, the latter replied, “no, I have not carried out any checks… but the rumours are persistent”. Other than BORGOGNI, The Naples Court has listed as defendants in the bribery case, Giuseppe ORSI, known as Pippo, former managing director and chair of Finmeccanica, Bruno SPAGNOLINI, former head of AgustaWestland Holdings NV based in Holland, Guido Ralph HASCHKE, resident in Lugano, Switzerland, Carlo Valentino Ferdinando GEROSA, Italian and Swiss citizen, Michel CHRISTIAN, resident in London, PRAVEEN BAKSHI, Indian citizen, SANJEEV KUMAR TYAGI, Indian citizen, GAUTAM KHAITAN, Indian citizen, Paolo GIRASOLE, former director of Finmeccanica in India, Luciano FAVA, manager of Alenia Aermacchi India and Attilio GARAVAGLIA, former employee of AgustaWestland SpA, Renzo LUNARDI, managing director of WASS – Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei SpA, Finmeccanica Group and Francesco DIGENNARO, former AgustaWestland employee. These individuals may be summoned to the court in the days and weeks to come. According to the court documents, “the investigation had been opened in late 2011 after Lorenzo BORGOGNI, had made allegations of systemic corruption practiced by certain executives heading some companies in the group, by the offering of bribes – some international – paid by Finmeccanica and subsidiary companies for the award of orders from foreign companies and collusion between the executives of Finmeccanica group companies and certain political parties and their exponents that are financed by the illegal ‘proceeds’ that Finmeccanica obtained from such operations”.