We often hear that in terms of bribes, our country is ahead of the rest of the world. Nevertheless, they also know how to give and take bribes abroad, and very often huge sums appear in scandalous news. This time the scandal turned out to be international: high-ranking officials and top managers of Italy and India are involved in it. The estimated volume of bribes is at least 50 million euros.
The current corruption scandal has its roots in 2010, when the Indian Ministry of Defense and the Italian holding Finmeccanica signed a contract for the supply of 12 AgustaWestland AW-101 helicopters in the VIP version. At that time, the Italian company was going through hard times and fought off various claims, but still was able to promote its products. Finmeccanica was to receive 556 million euros for the execution of the order. Almost three years after the signing of the contract, in February 2013, the Italian Central Bureau of Investigation published preliminary information, according to which the transaction took place only thanks to a bribe. There is unconfirmed information that even before the announcement of the competition requirements, some Italian businessmen and officials held secret negotiations with the Indian military. Allegedly, after this, some points of the technical requirements for the new technology were changed so that the AW-101 helicopters would correspond to them and could take part in the tender.
According to investigators, Indian high-ranking officials received about 50-51 million euros for the appropriate choice of equipment. Just days after the publication of this data, investigators from the Central Bureau of Investigation secured the arrest of the current CEO of Finmeccanica, Giuseppe Orsi. At the time of the signing of the contract for the supply of helicopters, he already held one of the key positions in his company. Also under house arrest was placed the chief executive officer of the company Bruno Spagnolini. A preliminary investigation of the case is underway. In addition to the arrests of top officials, Finmeccanica received additional problems in the form of a fall in shares. In just a couple of days after the arrest of Orsi and Spagnolini, the company's shares fell by more than ten percent, after which the Italian National Commission on Companies and Exchanges was forced to ban the quick sale of its shares for some time.
Soon after the news came from Italy, Indian politicians reacted to the situation. Indian MPs from the opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party are demanding the Italian Bureau of Investigation to check the activities of several leaders of the ruling Indian National Congress (INC) party. According to the opposition, it was the leadership of the ruling party that received money from Italian businessmen and then put pressure on the Ministry of Defense. It is noteworthy that a preliminary internal investigation by the Indian Ministry of Defense has not yet yielded any results regarding the involvement of the leadership of the INC party in the scandal. Nevertheless, according to a number of analysts, the subsequent events around the scandalous contract may lead to the most ambitious consequences, including the change of power.
It should be noted that against the background of the main corruption scandal, other unpleasant situations of no less scale may appear. For example, due to the fact that the Italian investigation is at an early stage, the Central Bureau of Investigation is not yet able to provide full information to Indian colleagues. Firstly, this does not allow Indian law enforcement agencies to take timely measures and prevent the perpetrators from destroying evidence or fleeing, and secondly, due to the lack of clear information about the situation, the Ministry of Defense does not know what to do next with the contract. If the only motivation for choosing Italian helicopters was a bribe, then such a choice cannot be considered objective, fair and suitable in terms of economy or operation. Therefore, if the investigation reveals the facts of bribery, the contract is terminated. To date, AgustaWestland, a structural subdivision of the Finmeccanica holding, has managed to complete a quarter of the order and deliver three new AW-101 helicopters in VIP configuration to India.
Should the contract be broken, the Indian military will face a serious question. Probably, the three helicopters received will remain in India, and their cost will be taken into account when returning the money paid. However, the Indian Defense Ministry wants a dozen helicopters, not three. Accordingly, another question arises: how to complete the fleet of rotary-wing vehicles for the transport of command? It is quite understandable that starting a new tender is one of the worst options. For announcing a competition, sending out invitations, compiling a list of participants, etc. bureaucratic moments will take too long. As a result, the Indian military is already forced to look for a faster and easier way to cover the need for VIP transport.
One of the most probable and convenient options for this is the introduction of additional conditions into the existing treaties between India and Russia. Over the next few years, our country will supply the Indian Air Force with several dozen medium multipurpose Mi-17 helicopters of various modifications. In fact, nothing prevents us from additionally agreeing on the re-equipment of a certain number of these machines in accordance with the new requirements, or to carry out such a revision on our own. Financially, such a solution to the problem is likely to be indistinguishable from an existing dubious contract. In command transport helicopters, most of the final cost relates to equipment such as communications systems, special equipment, or the associated "interior". Therefore, the creation of a special board based on the slightly cheaper Mi-17 helicopter may ultimately turn out to be cheaper than a similar operation with the Italian AW-101. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the corruption component. It is unlikely that Italian businessmen - if they really gave bribes - would give, as they say, about eight or nine percent of the total amount of the contract for kickbacks.
Currently, Italian investigators are completing a preliminary investigation. About a dozen high-ranking Italian officials and businessmen are already under suspicion. The Indian side is also ready to start its investigation, but while waiting for the results of the work of the Italian Central Bureau of Investigation. The first results of the investigation can be published in the very near future and they will probably be very interesting. It can be assumed that the results of the preliminary investigation will once again expand the list of suspects, and India will be able to join the investigation.
