India to blacklist Finmeccanica

(ANSA) - New Delhi, May 30 - India is to cancel all its orders with Italy's Finmeccanica aerospace and defence giant after its AgustaWestland subsidiary allegedly paid kickbacks to secure a secured the 566-million-euro contract to provide 12 AW101 helicopters for the Indian Air Force, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported Monday. Procedures have begun to place Finmeccanica and its subsidiaries on a blacklist, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told PTI in an interview.
    Standing contracts with Finmeccanica and its subsidiaries for maintenance and parts for equipment India has purchased in the past will remain valid, the minister added.
    "New purchases will be halted," Parrikar said.
    In April this year, a Milan appeals court found former Finmeccanica CEO and president Giuseppe Orsi guilty of corruption and sentenced him to a prison term of four and a half years. Former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini was handed a four-year prison term.
    Orsi denied wrongdoing, and resigned from the helm of the State-controlled firm in 2013 after being arrested in relation to the probe.
    Both companies and their former executives have denied wrongdoing.