The Italian Viewpoint

The arrest of Finmeccanica CEO, for allegedly securing a chopper deal with India with kickbacks, has shaken up Italian politics.

KICKBACKS ~ The arrest of Finmeccanica CEO Orsi Guiseppe in Italy, for allegedly securing a chopper deal with India with kickbacks, has shaken up Italian politics. With Italy’s national election due next month, the country’s focus is back on corruption, reports The Wall Street Journal. Former Prime Minister Silivio Berlusconi did not convince many when he said that bribery is necessary while doing business in India, said Ezio Mauro, editor-in-chief of La Repubblica newspaper, speaking about the scandal. Mauro said that this scandal could dramatically change the election campaign. The head of Italy’s centre left-coalition Pier Luigi Bersani proclaimed, “No more bribes and no more Berlusconi.” And Prime Minister Mario Monti also hit out saying corruption is not inevitable. The other large concern in Italy is the economy. So the future of Finmeccanica, which employees around 700,000 people globally, matters. In the words of Italian journalist Sergio Rizzo, “[It is] the technological heart of Italian industry and the little we have left of our great manufacturing industry.” Both India and Italy rank high on Transparency International’s corruption index, at No 94 and No 72 in a list of 174 countries.

About The Author

arindam