Jail term requested for ex-Finmeccanica boss Orsi

Six years behind bars in AgustaWestland helicopter kickback case

(ANSA) - Busto Arsizio, July 3 - Prosecutors on Thursday asked that former Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi be sentenced to six years in prison on international corruption charges. Orsi is suspected of being involved in bribes allegedly paid to secure a 566-million-euro contract to sell 12 AW-101 helicopters made by Finmeccanica subsidiary AgustaWestland to the Indian government.

Orsi denied any wrongdoing and told the judge he had no knowledge of any malfeasance concerning the 12-helicopter deal. He also denied knowing the Tyagi family, members of which prosecutors say received bribes paid by Finmeccanica to secure the contract in India. India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last year questioned former Air Force chief of staff Shashindra Pal Tyagi and his cousins, cousins Julie and Docsa Tyagi, in connection with the alleged kickbacks.

Also on Thursday, prosecutors requested a five-year prison term for Bruno Spagnolini, the former CEO of AgustaWestland, for the State to confiscate 7.5 million euros from both defendants, and for them to be banned from holding corporate office and from doing business with the public sector for three years. As well, a lawyer for Italy's inland revenue agency asked the court trying the two former Finmeccanica executives to award it damages of 8.35 million euros in moral and material damages. The Indian defence ministry is also expected to sue for damages from the pair. India froze payments on the choppers in early 2013 after only three had been procured, and cancelled the deal at the start of this year.

The trial has been adjourned to September 30. Formed in 2000, AgustaWestland is a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica and employs some 13,000 people. Finmeccanica's largest shareholder is the Italian government with a 30% stake. It employs some 63,000 people and posted profits of 74 million euros on revenue of 16 billion euros in 2013.