June 11, 2025

Berlusconi Says Party to Back Italy’s Coalition

“We have said clearly and directly that the government must forge ahead and approve the economic measures that we have requested and were agreed,” Mr. Berlusconi said in his first public appearance since the conviction, speaking at a rally his party had organized in front of his residence here.

Italy’s current prime minister, Enrico Letta, who watched the rally on television, took note of Mr. Berlusconi’s intentions, but he made clear that he expected concrete action, like support for a package of economic measures that are scheduled to be voted on in Parliament next week, a member of Mr. Letta’s staff said.

“I can promise you,” Mr. Berlusconi told his supporters, almost in tears. “Here I am. I am staying here. I won’t surrender.”

An estimated 2,000 people attended the rally to express anger and bewilderment at the ruling. “This party carries 10 million votes,” Raffaele Fitto, a former government minister from Mr. Berlusconi’s People of Liberty party, told the television network La7 from the rally. “It cannot be canceled with a pen stroke.”

Last week, Italy’s highest court upheld a four-year prison sentence for Mr. Berlusconi, which had been effectively reduced to one year, for tax fraud. He was found guilty of a plot in which his Mediaset broadcasting company bought the rights to show American movies on their networks and inflated the prices, using offshore companies to evade taxes.

After the ruling, lawmakers from the People of Liberty party offered to resign and have been demanding that President Giorgio Napolitano pardon Mr. Berlusconi, but experts say that is highly unlikely.

By Oct. 15, Mr. Berlusconi must decide whether he would like to serve his time in jail, under house arrest or do community service.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/05/world/europe/berlusconi-says-party-to-back-italys-coalition.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

India Opens Its Own Inquiry Into Finmeccanica Contract

India will consider canceling a multimillion-dollar military contract and taking criminal action if an investigation finds that bribes were paid by the Italian company Finmeccanica to steer a helicopter contract its way, the Indian defense minister said Wednesday.

A.K. Antony, the minister, said he had ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Indian agency responsible for investigating corruption cases, to examine all aspects of the €560 million, or $753 million, contract with Finmeccanica to supply 12 helicopters to the Indian military. He said the government would wait for the result of that investigation before taking action.

The Indian Defense Ministry has ordered a separate investigation into the Finmeccanica agreement after Italian prosecutors arrested the company’s chief executive, Giuseppe Orsi, in Milan on Tuesday. Italian investigators are looking into whether Finmeccanica executives violated bribery and corruption laws in seeking the helicopter deal with the Indian military.

Mr. Antony said that once the government had the C.B.I. report in hand, it would move to take the “strongest action,” which could include canceling the contract, blacklisting the companies and criminal action.

India signed the contract with Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland helicopter division for the purchase of 12 helicopters in February 2010. Three of the helicopters were delivered in December.

In addition to Mr. Orsi’s arrest Tuesday, Italian officials also placed Bruno Spagnolini, the head of AgustaWestland, under house arrest and raided the AgustaWestland corporate offices in Milan.

Officials at the Indian Defense Ministry said the helicopter contract with AgustaWestland included an integrity clause against bribery or the use of undue influence. Under the terms of the clause, if any person or the company was found to have bribed officials or made any kind of payment, the agreement could be scrapped and the company blacklisted.

The Defense Ministry has put on hold the delivery of the remaining nine helicopters from the company. Finmeccanica, one of the largest aerospace, military and security companies in the world, employs about 70,000 people and reported first-half 2012 revenue of about €8 billion. The Italian government owns a 30 percent stake in the company.

India is expected to spend $80 billion over the next 10 years to upgrade its military. The country has become one of the biggest buyers of military equipment in recent years as it reacts to China’s growing influence in the region and competes with Pakistan.

India purchased about $12.7 billion in arms from 2007 to 2011, about 80 percent of that from Russia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. China’s arms purchases during that time were $6.3 billion, 78 percent of which came from Russia.

Arms deals in India have often generated controversy and allegations that companies pay millions of dollars in kickbacks to Indian officials to procure lucrative contracts.

In the 1980s, the government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi collapsed over charges that the Swedish gun manufacturer Bofors paid bribes to supply Howitzer field guns to the Indian Army.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/business/global/india-opens-its-own-inquiry-into-finmeccanica-contract.html?partner=rss&emc=rss