MILAN—Italian police early on Tuesday arrested Finmeccanica
SpA FNC.MI -7.31%Chief Executive Giuseppe Orsi as part of
an investigation into possible international corruption related to the 2010 sale
of helicopters by the Italian aerospace company to India, according to the
prosecutor in the investigation. Hours after the arrest, India's Defense
Secretary Shashikant Sharma told The Wall Street Journal that the country's
government had ordered its federal investigation agency to investigate the
helicopter deal. The official gave no further details of the Indian
investigation. Mr. Orsi has been under investigation for several months in the
case, in which Italian prosecutors are looking into whether the helicopter unit
of Finmeccanica paid bribes to secure the €560 million ($750 million) sale of 12
helicopters to the Indian government, according to Finmeccanica and a person
close to the investigation. Mr. Orsi was chief executive of AgustaWestland, the
helicopter unit, at the time. Eugenio Fusco, the prosecutor on the case, also
said that Bruno Spagnolini, current head of AgustaWestland, had been placed
under house arrest as part of the same probe. Mr. Spagnolini was chief operating
officer of AgustaWestland in 2010. A lawyer for Mr. Orsi, who hasn't been
charged in the case, wasn't immediately reachable for comment. Mr. Orsi has in
the past denied any wrongdoing. In a statement, Finmeccanica expressed support
for Mr. Orsi and said the company's operations would not be affected by the
arrest. A spokesman for AgustaWestland had no comment, and a lawyer for Mr.
Spagnolini—who hasn't been charged—wasn't reachable for comment. The arrest of
Mr. Orsi—who runs a company that is majority-owned by the Italian state—comes at
a politically sensitive moment, just two weeks ahead of national elections.
Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti said the government would deal with
management issues created by the arrest. "(This opens up) a problem of
governance at Finmeccanica, which we will address," he said in a radio interview
on Tuesday morning. Mr. Orsi has said that he would step down from his
position if the Italian government, which owns 30.2% of Finmeccanica, asked him
to. Finmeccanica's stock fell 8.06% to €4.37—its lowest in two months—after
being suspended from trade on the opening of the Milan exchange.
Access Investments-Building Awareness - European Union-ROMANIA
Friday, February 15, 2013
MILAN—Italian police early on Tuesday arrested Finmeccanica
SpA FNC.MI -7.31%Chief Executive Giuseppe Orsi as part of
an investigation into possible international corruption related to the 2010 sale
of helicopters by the Italian aerospace company to India, according to the
prosecutor in the investigation. Hours after the arrest, India's Defense
Secretary Shashikant Sharma told The Wall Street Journal that the country's
government had ordered its federal investigation agency to investigate the
helicopter deal. The official gave no further details of the Indian
investigation. Mr. Orsi has been under investigation for several months in the
case, in which Italian prosecutors are looking into whether the helicopter unit
of Finmeccanica paid bribes to secure the €560 million ($750 million) sale of 12
helicopters to the Indian government, according to Finmeccanica and a person
close to the investigation. Mr. Orsi was chief executive of AgustaWestland, the
helicopter unit, at the time. Eugenio Fusco, the prosecutor on the case, also
said that Bruno Spagnolini, current head of AgustaWestland, had been placed
under house arrest as part of the same probe. Mr. Spagnolini was chief operating
officer of AgustaWestland in 2010. A lawyer for Mr. Orsi, who hasn't been
charged in the case, wasn't immediately reachable for comment. Mr. Orsi has in
the past denied any wrongdoing. In a statement, Finmeccanica expressed support
for Mr. Orsi and said the company's operations would not be affected by the
arrest. A spokesman for AgustaWestland had no comment, and a lawyer for Mr.
Spagnolini—who hasn't been charged—wasn't reachable for comment. The arrest of
Mr. Orsi—who runs a company that is majority-owned by the Italian state—comes at
a politically sensitive moment, just two weeks ahead of national elections.
Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti said the government would deal with
management issues created by the arrest. "(This opens up) a problem of
governance at Finmeccanica, which we will address," he said in a radio interview
on Tuesday morning. Mr. Orsi has said that he would step down from his
position if the Italian government, which owns 30.2% of Finmeccanica, asked him
to. Finmeccanica's stock fell 8.06% to €4.37—its lowest in two months—after
being suspended from trade on the opening of the Milan exchange.
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5 comments:
High uncertainty in Europe is putting the brakes on investment and economic activity in Germany,”
“But this weakness is only temporary. During the course of the year, the German economy will find its way back to growth. Current indicators, such as business surveys, confirm this.” For 2012 as a whole, Germany grew by 0.7pc."Oh! Praise the gods for grand favors like a 0.7pc growth. How wonderful. Extending the logic of the left, we can grow the economy with more taxes like the Tobin Tax. We then can wonder why a 90% tax rate was not the solution to an egalitarian society in the beginning of the EZ. But, it not too late and then 100% or even 110% tax rates are neat options. We all know our grand governments can spend our money better than we can. We have only to listen to them to confirm this. They are here to help. Let us tax and spend our way into prosperity. Down with capitalism.
By 2014, the Euro will be disolved. If not disolved, then a separating of the north and the south where the north continues to use the original Euro and the south something more accomodating.
I know that deep down in your heart (referenced by the fact that you push the Euro and the USE more than is deserved) you know the Euro is an unfair currency to southern Europe.
And whilst the recession in the West continues to provide even more misery, there will be further motivation to break free of the "one currency fits all" fallacy.
across europe people have lost their jobs,their homes and even their pensions! Economies at ground level are reaching the point of no return .... massive unemployment especially for the young are the end game! No one with half a brain is ever going to start a business and employ people .... its never going to happen! Then we have on one hand that everything is improving ... we are on the way back .... but then we get indications that three of the main economies have contracted yet again ... not only contracted but exceeded expectations! I will predict now that not far from now those people will realise that there never is going to be any jobs ... or any recovery as long as the euro is in place ... and the violence will start!
A deepening recession in the 17-nation eurozone sent shares lower on Thursday amid evidence that the problems of the single currency's crisis-hit periphery were spreading northwards to affect monetary union's core economies of Germany and France.
Despite an easing of financial tensions in the second half of the year, gross domestic product in the members of the monetary union dropped by 0.6% in the final three months of 2012, a heftier decline than the markets had been expecting.
An across-the-board fall in output that affected both large and small economies meant that the eurozone economy failed to register an increase in activity in a single quarter of 2012, with a flat first three months of the year followed by three successive drops in output. The combination of weakening activity and high budget deficits prompted a warning from the credit rating agency Standard & Poor that Spain, France, Italy and Portugal were at risk of a downgrade in 2013.
Although Britain also registered a fall in output in the final three of 2013 and is one quarter of contraction away from triple-dip recession, Moritz Kraemer, managing director of European sovereign ratings at S&P said it was not a foregone conclusion that the UK would be stripped of its coveted AAA rating.
Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said seven eurozone countries – Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal and Finland – were already officially in recession after suffering two or more successive quarters of falling output
ROME - Italy's national statistics institute Istat said on Thursday that the country was in its longest recession in the last 20 years, after it registered a negative growth for the sixth consecutive quarter in the last three months of 2012.
Istat said that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for the whole of last year was down 2.2 percent compared to the previous year, according to seasonally adjusted data.
The GDP fell 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to the previous three months and 2.7 percent with respect to the same period in 2011.
The last time that Italy posted six consecutive quarters of negative growth was between 1992 and 1993, Istat added.
Italy has been the most sluggish economy in the eurozone for more than a decade and was at the forefront of the debt crisis when caretaker premier Mario Monti took the helm of an emergency government of technocrats in November 2011.
Though Monti's austerity measures have helped lower borrowing costs, international concerns were raised by analysts over the past weeks over the next government's ability to bring down huge public debt.
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