AgustaWestland CEOs Arrested on Bribery Charges

Stephen Pope

Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 10:38 PM ET

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** Former Agusta CEO Giuseppe Orsi**

Key Takeaways:

Italian police arrested AgustaWestland's current CEO, Bruno Spagnolini, and former CEO, Giuseppe Orsi (now Finmeccanica's CEO), on bribery charges.
The charges stem from a $750 million contract for the sale of 12 AW101 VIP helicopters to the Indian Air Force.
Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland's owner, expressed support for its chairman and CEO, hoping for a swift resolution to the ongoing investigation.

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Italian police arrested the current and former CEOs of helicopter maker AgustaWestland on Tuesday, charging both men with bribery stemming from an Indian helicopter contract.

Giuseppe Orsi, the chairman and CEO of Finmeccanica and former CEO of AgustaWestland, was taken into custody by police while current AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini has reportedly been placed under house arrest.