April 3, 2016,
The Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica is currently the focus of two bribery scandals associated with sales deals, including a deal in Panama where a principal of the Mossack Fonseca law firm is involved.
In October 2014 an Italian court cleared the chief executive of Finmeccanica,Giuseppe Orsi, of charges of “international corruption”, but convicted him and associate Bruno Spagnolini of lesser charges relating to false invoices. The convictions are being appealed.
The charges arose from allegations of bribery in relation to signing of a contract for the sale of 12 AgustaWestland helicopters to the Indian government.
It was alleged that tens of millions of dollars in bribes were paid to Indian officials, and that the money was routed through a series of jurisdictions and companies and was linked to the false invoices. Orsi was head of AgustaWestland at the time.