It’s useless to deny the existence of bribes, he said defending Finmeccanica SpA’s jailed ex-chief executive officer Giuseppe Orsi.
Defending Finmeccanica SpA’s jailed ex-chief executive officer Giuseppe Orsi, Italy’s three-time former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday said bribes are a necessary part of doing business globally.
“Bribes are a phenomenon that exists and it’s useless to deny the existence of these necessary situations,” Berlusconi said in a televised interview.
“These are not crimes. We’re talking about paying a commission to someone in that country. Why, because those are the rules in that country,” the former premier was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
In February 2010, India had inked the deal to acquire the 12 three-engine AW-101 helicopters from AgustaWestland for IAF’s elite Communication Squadron, which ferries the President, PM and other VVIPs.
The deal came under the scanner of Italian agencies after allegations of kickback given in India surfaced.
The agencies arrested Orsi on Tuesday as part of their probe related to international corruption.
It is alleged that Orsi, who was heading the helicopter unit, when the deal was struck, was involved in the bribery.
Around 50 million euros (Rs 362 crore approximately), about 10 per cent of the deal, were alleged to have been given as bribes to ensure that the company won the contract.
Italian news agency ANSA quoted Berlusconi as saying that probes by Italian prosecutors into contracts Italian firms sign abroad were a form of “economic suicide”.
“Everyone knows that as well as the tenders, agreements between governments are also involved,” Mr. Berlusconi said.
He added: “The fact that there is the risk of magistrates intervening I consider to be economic suicide”.
Keywords: Finmeccanica SpA, new Chief Executive Officer, Alessandro Pansa, Giuseppe Orsi, copter deal, Silvio Berlusconi
The tip mentality. In the U.S. you try to bribe a cop and you end up in jail.
Well the Indian government has probably offered half the kickbacks to the Italians.
The original amount quoted of the kickbacks was 400 crores. Now the amount
quoted is approx 200 crores. In the meanwhile the scapegoats that Verma agent and
the Italian boss of Westland will go to jail for sometime to satisfy "Collective
Consciousness" and the when everything is buried deeply in "Collective Amnesia" we
will return to a comfort zone for our politicians and discomfort zone for the common
man now to be squeezed out through more petrol taxes to recover the 200 crores
they had to give to the Italians. Wish they were as smart when running the country!
Berlusconi talks about the bribe "rules" of India. Sure the parliament
might have enacted bribe rules without the public's knowledge..
At least the man is being honest. If the officials on the Indian side of the fence also concede that 'bribes are part and parcel of international business' then we can at least understand that we are all playing on level field. When GAIL gets contracts elsewhere or when India sells arms to other countries we will then know how things work. Please, will everyone in the government come out declaring the truth?
The former Prime minister of Italy says that paying a commission to
someone in India is because it is the rule in India.But this is at what
cost,changing the specification etc in the tender and favoring them.Is
this not a crime done by the persons of both country involved/benefited.
Barenaked truth. if you are not bribing others will do and get the contract.
Jesus! This is outrageous. Here is a man who was recently convicted for corruption and for organizing "Bunga-Bunga" parties (Sex party for high profile people). I can only imagine what are the "kind" of bribes Indian politicians received.
Coming as it does from a man of the world such as Mr. Berlusconi, there is no reason to doubt it. Of course some of India's current set of political and business bigwigs will no doubt disapprove of such truths being made uncomfortably public.
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