Giuseppe Orsi

Giuseppe Orsi (born 24 November 1945 in Piacenza) is an Italian engineer, businessman, and corporate executive.

Giuseppe Orsi began his career in 1973 at Siai Marchetti, (subsequently incorporated into Agusta) where he was product support director.

Following the reorganisation of the Agusta companies into a centralised management structure in 1984, he was promoted to the Marketing and Strategies Directorate, where he managed Agusta's international network of sales and representative offices.

Three years later, he was appointed sales director of Agusta's Aircraft Division with responsibility for worldwide market development, strategy, and negotiation.

In June 1989, he was elected president and chief executive officer of Agusta Aerospace Corporation (AgustaWestland's North American production plant in Philadelphia) and in January 1994 he joined the reorganised Agusta International Sales Department as senior vice president, government sales and programs.

In 1997, as deputy general manager of Agusta, he managed the company's presence in the international market and negotiated a joint venture with Bell Helicopters involving Tiltrotor and AB139 helicopters, saying that "Consolidating ownership of the AB139 will provide a single face to the customer, leading to increased sales and greater customer satisfaction related to follow-on support services."

In 2001, as managing director of marketing and sales, he was part of the Agusta and Westland (AgustaWestland) merger and he subsequently joined the 'Management Committee'.

A year later he was appointed managing director of Agusta and COO of AgustaWestland's Italian operations.

In 2001, as managing director of marketing and sales, he was part of the merger of Agusta and Westland into AgustaWestland and subsequently joined the firm's management committee.

A year later he was appointed managing director of Agusta SpA and COO of AgustaWestland's Italian operations.

In 2004, he was appointed CEO of AgustaWestland, a post he held until 2011.

During this period, AgustaWestland experienced significant growth in terms of sales, profit, EBIT, and cash flow.

He had a long career at Finmeccanica, Italy's leading high-technology group, and in November 2011 was appointed its chief executive officer and chairman.

In 2011 he was appointed chief executive officer and chairman of Finmeccanica SpA.

He was made CEO and chairman at a time when Finmeccanica had "endured years of scandal related to allegations of kickbacks, management impropriety and other problems connected to Orsi’s predecessor as CEO, Pierfrancesco Guarguaglini, and the political leadership of Italy’s former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi."

Although these scandals pre-dated Orsi, he had "not yet escaped taint," according to analysts.

When Orsi took control of the firm, he sought to restructure it by selling off its "non-core divisions, including energy-engineering-services provider Ansaldo Energia, transportation-technology company Ansaldo STS and train and tram maker AnsaldoBreda."

Orsi's restructuring plan for Finmeccanica reportedly "harmed his support within the firm.

In October 2011, Orsi forced the resignation of Lorenzo Borgogni, Finmeccanica's longtime head of external relations, after the latter admitted to interrogators that he had taken millions of euros in bribes from companies that had received Finmeccanica contracts.

Prosecutors in Naples began investigating Orsi in the spring of 2011, shortly after he was promoted from CEO of AgustaWestland to CEO of Finmeccanica.

Prosecutors were looking into whether AgustaWestland paid bribes to secure the €560 million sale of 12 helicopters to the Indian government and, if so, what role Orsi had in this scheme.

The probe was triggered by accusations made by Borgogni, who supplied prosecutors with details of kickbacks supposedly paid by AgustaWestland to guarantee the purchase of the helicopters.

The payments were allegedly made by two businessmen Guido Ralph Haschke and Christian Michel, who acted as middlemen in a scheme also purportedly involving Orsi, Haschke's business partner Carlo Gerosa, AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini.

Borgogni charged that at least 10 million of a 51 million euro slush fund had been "funnelled back to Italy and paid to the Lega Nord party in return for its support to Orsi's bid to become president of Finmeccanica."

It was noted that a year earlier, shortly after his appointment as CEO, Orsi had "presented Finmeccanica’s 2011 results and solemnly promised never again to have to discuss such dreadful numbers. As he details the 2012 financials on 12 March he can be sure the number crunchers will be pressing him for hard timing details of Finmeccanica’s disposal plans, not to mention a good explanation for why so little headway was made during 2012."

An April 2012 report by the Financial Times stated that the Naples probe was focusing on Orsi and that Finmeccanica considered Borgogni's charges to be trumped-up and motivated by a desire to bring down Orsi to avenge his dismissal from the firm.

Another April 2012 report indicated that Naples prosecutors were gathering evidence in Switzerland about Finmeccanina's bank accounts purportedly opened in that country for the purpose of channelling kickback funds.

On 15 October 2012, Orsi’s lawyer said at a news conference that Orsi would resign if the Italian government wished him to do so, but that "his personal intention is to stay on, defend himself and demonstrate that accusations against him are groundless."

In a front-page editorial about Orsi and Finmeccanica on 24 October, Corriere della Sera commented: "If the government does not want to, or does not know how to, give guidelines to management, then it should take the responsibility to sell it."

On 27 October, a report stated that Orsi and Finmecannica were "under increasing public pressure as corruption probes into the firms' foreign sales continue to expand," with investigators now looking into possible irregularities in connection with contracts in Brazil and Panama, in addition to India.

An Italian analyst said that the investigations were "negative for Finmeccanica’s reputation, and it is not clear if Orsi will survive."

Orsi was arrested by Italian police in February 2013 on bribery allegations in the Indian Chopper deal scandal, and was released after three months.

According to a February 2013, report, Finmeccanica's credit ratings had recently dropped, with Standard & Poor lowering it to BB+/B, from BBB-/A-3, which took its debt "below the investment grade level."

However, on 9 October 2014, at the end of the proceedings of the first instance, he was fully acquitted (the fact did not occur) of international corruption and bribery allegations in the helicopter case, and was sentenced to two years in prison (sentence was suspended) for false invoicing.

Orsi's lawyer, Giuseppe Amodio, appealed against this punishment and affirmed, “With regard to the two-year sentence for false invoicing, a part of those invoices was linked to non-existent transactions.

We are confident that this judgement will be reversed on appeal.” However, in April 2016 an Italian appeals court sentenced Giuseppe Orsi to four and a half years in prison for corruption and falsifying invoices, overturning the previous lower court ruling.

Orsi remains free pending an appeal to Italy's Supreme Court.

Giuseppe Orsi is a graduate of Politecnico di Milano, where he received a Doctorate in Aeronautical Engineering.

Following university, he attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he specialized in Finance and Management.

He also served as an officer in the Italian Air Force and is a qualified civil pilot.