After the stop to short selling Finmeccanica has slowed the collapse on the Stock Exchange. But it still lost more than 7% at the end of the day. At the start of the session, the stock had failed to gain price due to the strong current of sales triggered by the news of the arrest of the president and Giuseppe Orsi. In the morning, the stock ended up in the volatility auction due to an excess of downside after falling by more than 13%. A price change that has led Consob to ban short selling of the stock in today's and tomorrow's sessions. In particular, the prohibition concerns short sales assisted by the availability of securities and reinforces the prohibition on "naked" short sales, i.e. without the availability of securities, already in force for all shares since XNUMX November last. Meanwhile, already tomorrow an extraordinary board of directors could assign the new powers to the top after the arrest of the group's number one, Giuseppe Orsi.
But let's go step by step. The storm over Finmeccanica unleashed this morning with the arrest of the number one of the Orsi group and with the flow of information that arrived during the day. Orsi has been under investigation since last April for international corruption as part of an investigation into alleged bribes paid by the Finmeccanica subsidiary Augusta Westland for a 560 million euro order for 12 helicopters sold to India in 2010: around fifty of the deal millions would have been used to pay bribes and secure the contract. Now the investigating judge of the Busto Arsizio court has issued the arrest warrant on charges of international corruption, embezzlement and extortion above all for the danger of tampering with evidence. The investigating magistrate writes that Giuseppe Orsi would have undertaken "contacts with circles of the CSM to obtain the appointment of the new manager of the proceeding investigatory office and, therefore, to exclude the magistrate from the investigation" who was investigating him. Basically, according to the indictment, the president of Finmeccanica would have contacted someone at the CSM so that the new Busto Arsizio attorney could be appointed quickly. The latter, in turn, should have ousted the applied prosecutor Eugenio Fusco, owner of the file on Giuseppe Orsi, from the investigation. Pre-trial detention in prison is "proportionate to the seriousness of the fact", "surely neutralizes the perpetration of further corrupt conduct" and "sets a limit...to the commitment with which he, personally, has activated himself to prevent, hinder and demean the investigation”, writes the magistrate in the arrest warrant. The magistrate also ordered house arrest for the CEO of Agusta Westland, Bruno Spagnolini.
Not only. Giuseppe Orsi, intercepted, "reveals his disenchantment with the bribe practice" and "his belief that it is a natural factor in business practice", writes the investigating judge, who speaks of the payment of bribes as a "company philosophy". According to the magistrate, both Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, "in respect of whom there are serious indications of guilt regarding the supply of 12 military helicopters to India through the bribery of public officials of that State, appear convinced of the need to resort to such systems operations to obtain the award of the tenders". In this regard, with reference to Spagnolini, the investigating judge points out that a memorandum dating back to 2010 was found in a suitcase seized from the intermediary Guido Haschke at his mother's house "concerning the subsequent supply of Agusta vehicles to India with specific reference to the bribe requested by the public official involved in those events (such Saini). Therefore, the judge points out, Agusta Westland, and for it its management and Spagnolini in particular, seem to be accustomed to paying bribes and there is reason to believe that this company philosophy will also be repeated in the future if not rendered useless through the precautionary intervention”, that is the arrest. The corruption hypothesized by the Busto Arsizio prosecutor's office against the managing director Giuseppe Orsi and the others arrested last December.
The investigation had started from Naples and had been conducted for a long time by the prosecutors of Naples, Piscitelli and Woodcock, then it was sent to Busto Arsizio by decision of the Court of Cassation, which established the territorial jurisdiction of the Lombard magistrates who completed the picture prosecution, requesting and obtaining the precautionary measures carried out this morning. The magistrate also ordered house arrest for the alleged bribe intermediaries: Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. The two are resident in Switzerland and, therefore, the extradition procedures will have to be activated. A series of searches started this morning: in addition to Orsi's house, in Sesto Calende in the Varese area, the Noe carabinieri are also carrying out searches in the Agusta Westland headquarters, in the Cascina Costa headquarters in Samarate (Varese) and in various other branches . In Milan, in particular, these are the Finmeccanica offices in Piazza S. Babila, in the center of the Lombard capital, and at a law firm in Cornaredo.
For Orsi's lawyer, Professor Ennio Amodio, the measure is "devastating", "because it decapitates two of the largest companies in our country". “I've always done good for the company and the country,” Orsi told his lawyer. Professor Amodio also said that Orsi "has never committed any wrongdoing and we will prove it". In the meantime, Finmeccanica has confirmed the orderly continuation of the management activity and the continuation of the initiatives in progress” .
A new tile on the current electoral campaign that has already raised a circuit of accusations and counter accusations.
For Finmeccanica "there is a problem relating to governance that we will address", said Prime Minister Mario Monti speaking on Uno Mattina. Which he added: "we need to go further in the matter of false accounting, strengthen the discipline of prevention and the rules and practices to combat corruption". Beyond international corruption - continued Monti - it is very important to eradicate it at the national level. With difficulty, the government got an anti-corruption law approved but, from the right, it found it difficult to go further. But now we need to do it and strengthen the discipline because it is not only morally and civilly important, but also economically because it facilitates international investments in the country".
According to Camusso's CGIL, action must be taken soon "perhaps with a commissioner".
Meanwhile, India has opened an official investigation into the sale of helicopters, linked to the Finmeccanica case. New Delhi announced it. The Stock Exchange is now fearing the repercussions that the story will have on the ongoing divestment process of Finemccanica, in which Ansaldo Energia was at an advanced stage while the scenarios for the transport division were still uncertain, and on the reorganization process that risks slowing down. For Equita's analysts, the impact "on the reputation in international tenders in an already worsened competitive scenario" is certain and Banca Akros has cut the judgment to accumulated hold.
