The two top executives of Italy’s AgustaWestland helicopter company were the guests of ORNGE founder Chris Mazza at one of several events in Ontario in 2010 to celebrate ORNGE’s purchase of 12 helicopters to use as air ambulances.
Along the way, in what was a close relationship between Mazza and Agusta boss Orsi, there were fine dinners, finer wines, and a trip to La Scala opera house in Milan. The Thunder Bay rooms where Mazza played host were just $140 a night, paid by ORNGE. Mazza’s room in the European-themed White Fox Inn was “Elise.”
Orsi and Spagnolini were arrested Tuesday in Italy, facing bribery allegations in connection with a deal to sell 12 military choppers to the Indian government. A spokesman for their parent company said the company fully supports the two executives and hopes “clarity is established quickly, whilst reaffirming its confidence in the judges.” No charges have been laid.
The judges referred to are investigating magistrates in Italy who have, for more than a year, been conducting a probe into the Indian helicopter deal.
According to Reuters, which has viewed case documents in Italy, Italian prosecutors authorized the arrests to prevent further wrongdoing.
“AgustaWestland and its management seem to be used to paying bribes and we have reason to believe that such a corporate philosophy could be repeated in the future if not stopped through an arrest,” Italian judge Luca Labianca wrote in the warrant, reviewed by Reuters.
In Toronto, Mazza was “shocked” to hear of the Agusta allegations in Italy, according to a person close to Mazza and girlfriend Kelly Long. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, further said Mazza “was never offered and would never have accepted anything from anybody.”
Reuters and media in India have reported that kickbacks of about $740,000 were allegedly paid by Agusta to government officials in India to secure the helicopter deal, which was signed in 2010, two years after the ORNGE deal was signed. Indian authorities announced today that they are beginning an investigation in light of the Italian allegations.
In Ontario, provincial police detectives are continuing an investigation into ORNGE. One area of inquiry is a $4.8-million payment Agusta made to Mazza’s for-profit company after the non-profit ORNGE paid $144 million of taxpayer money to purchase 12 air ambulance choppers.
The $4.8-million payment was for a “marketing services agreement” and ORNGE officials, including Long, were to develop plans to help sell Agusta choppers in other medical markets. The Star’s research shows very little work was done for the $4.8 million. It is not known if Italian authorities are probing the Ontario deal.
At the time of the ORNGE deal, Orsi was the chief executive officer of AgustaWestland. Spagnolini was the chief operating officer. Spagnolini has since taken over Orsi’s job at Agusta, while Orsi is chairman of parent company Finmeccanica. Neither has been charged, but both were detained Tuesday and offices and houses in Italy have been searched.
Mazza’s recently released expenses show numerous occasions when he entertained Agusta officials in Toronto and, in one case, Thunder Bay. There are several expensive dinners at public expense. One at Via Allegro near Sherway Gardens simply states “Agusta” as guests. Cocktails, steaks and a $279 bottle of wine (the name of the wine is blurred in the expense report and unreadable) totalled $1,334. That was in 2007, the year before ORNGE chose AgustaWestland to supply helicopters.
When that deal was done, in 2008, the final negotiations took place at the offices of AgustaWestland, in a small town a two-hour drive from Milan. ORNGE had asked for expressions of interest from Agusta and two other helicopter companies, all specifying a chopper that had de-icing capability. Only Agusta had this design (the de-icing has not been used by ORNGE), and the deal was inked when Mazza and several other ORNGE officials flew over. One ORNGE executive on the trip recalls negotiations to hammer out the deal took place without Mazza and Orsi, who left for two days. Those in attendance were told the two top executives were on a boat.
Just as ORNGE, through Mazza, paid for Toronto dinners and the hotel rooms in Thunder Bay, it appears that Agusta covered the expenses of Mazza, other ORNGE officials and chairman Rainer Beltzner on trips to Italy. In a reply to questions Tuesday, Beltzner confirmed that he took one trip to Italy with Mazza to check out the manufacturing process and Agusta paid for his ground transportation and “arranged” his hotel and some meals. “I don’t know who paid,” said Beltzner. “I didn’t.”
Beltzner said that while in Italy he conducted a “review of Agusta flight and assembly operations, training academy, and parts management information systems.” He said he also had a “business meeting and lunch with Giuseppe Orsi.”
While Mazza’s expenses show ORNGE paid for his airfare on several trips to Italy, there is no record of payments for his hotel or other expenses.
On one trip that he took to Italy, with girlfriend Kelly Long in 2011, Mazza and Long attended the world-renowned La Scala opera house in Milan as the guest of Agusta. Long wore a $3,000 dress purchased by Mazza, according to a person close to him.
Mazza, who was paid $4.6 million in salary, bonus and loans by ORNGE in 2010-11, was not the only Ontario official to visit the Agusta plant in Italy. While she was minister of economic development and on a trade mission to Italy, Sandra Pupatello took a two-hour road trip to the Agusta plant in 2011 to discuss the possibility of Agusta locating a facility in Ontario.
In an interview, Pupatello said she and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan also attended a Mazza-organized dinner in Yorkville with Agusta officials prior to the September 2010 launch of the Agusta-ORNGE program. “All we knew was that Agusta had won a bid with the Ontario government to supply helicopters,” Pupatello said.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Kevin Donovan
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