D’Alema and Profumo under investigation for Colombiagate
The Prosecutor of Naples has ordered the searches against Massimo D'Alema and Alessandro Profumo (Leonardo's former number one) during the investigation into the sale of arms from Colombia. The former general manager of Fincantieri Giuseppe Giordo is also under investigation. All the details
The Prosecutor of Naples is investigating Massimo D'Alema and Alessandro Profumo for Colombiagate.
That is the case that emerged last year in which former premier D'Alema is the protagonist as mediator in the (unfinished) sale of 4 billion euros of military vehicles to Colombia by Fincantieri and Leonardo, with 80 million euros of possible commissions for brokers.
At the behest of the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office, the Neapolitan Digos is carrying out a series of searches in the Roman homes and offices of Alessandro Profumo (as Leonardo's CEO at the time of the disputed facts which date back to a date close to January 27, 2022) , the former Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, Giuseppe Giordo, former director of the Ships sector of Fincantieri and Gherardo Gardo, in the role of D'Alema's accountant. The search warrant against the four suspects was issued as part of the investigations that the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office is carrying out into the sale and purchase of ships and aircraft to Colombia.
The search order against the four suspects was issued as part of the investigations by the Neapolitan investigating office into the sale of ships and aircraft to Colombia.
In addition to the four, Umberto Claudio Bonavita, Francesco Amato, Emanuele Caruso and Giancarlo Mazzotta are also under investigation.
The hypothesis of crime for all eight suspects is aggravated international corruption. The aggravated form is disputed by the suspects as the crime was allegedly committed with the help of an organized criminal group active in various states, including Italy, the USA, Colombia and also in others.
All the details.
THE INVESTIGATIONS OF THE NATIONAL MAGISTRATES
According to the prosecutors, "the subjects under investigation acted in various capacities as promoters of the commercial economic initiative of selling to the Colombian government products of Italian companies with public participation – Leonardo, in particular M 346 aircraft, and Fincantieri, in particular Corvettes and small submarines and construction of shipyards – in order to obtain from the Colombian authorities the conclusion of the formal and definitive agreements concerning the described supplies and whose overall economic value amounted to over 4 billion euros".
In the reconstruction of the prosecutor's office, Francesco Amato and Emanuele Caruso would have worked "as consultants for international cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia through Giancarlo Mazzotta and managed to have contacts with Massimo D'Alema who, due to his curriculum of positions also of international importance covered over time, acted as an informal mediator in relations with the top management of Italian companies, namely Alessandro Profumo as CEO of Leonardo and Giuseppe Giordo as general manager of the naval vessels division of Fincantieri".
“This operation – the prosecutors in Naples continue – was aimed at favoring and obtaining from the Colombian authorities the conclusion of agreements for a total value of over 4 billion euros. To obtain this, they offered and promised other people the illicit consideration of 40 million euros corresponding to 50% of the total commission of 80 million euros".
THE INVESTIGATION OPENED BY THE PROSECUTOR OF NAPLES
For those wondering why the investigation originates from the Naples prosecutor's office, Repubblica explains that "the Neapolitan prosecutors, in March 2022, entered in the register of suspects Francesco Amato and Emanuele Caruso, now 39 and 44 years old, two Apulian brokers accused of impersonation and fraud. In fact, the denunciation of the then deputy of Italia Viva, Gennaro Migliore, and of the ambassador Sergio Piazzi, respectively president and general secretary of the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, had also opened that political case judicially: an assembly from which the suspects Caruso and Amato they claimed to be somewhat patronized in their activities.”
So much so that in the documents related to the affair of the sale of arms to Colombia there were in fact logos that referred to that international organization – based in Naples – which brings together delegates from 30 countries on the two shores of the Mediterranean. "Counterfeit credentials" underlines Repubblica adding that "Migliore, who was the president of the APM until recently, together with the then general secretary Piazzi, had denounced everything in a complaint against anonymous persons".
THE COLOMBIAN PURCHASE AND SALE AT THE CENTER OF THE INVESTIGATION
Returning to the investigation, the investigators argue that "The total sum of 80 million euros was to be split between 'the Colombian side' and the 'Italian side' through recourse to the American associated law firm Robert Allen Law – based in Miami (reported and introduced by D'Alema as agent and formal commercial intermediary at Fincantieri and Leonardo) represented in Italy and for the specific negotiation by Umberto Bonavita and Gherardo Gardo”.
Negotiations then interrupted "due to the lack of agreement on the further distribution of the aforesaid sum between the individual natural persons constituting the 'Italian side' and the 'Colombian side'".
THE POSITION OF D'ALEMA COLLECTED LAST YEAR BY REPUBLIC ON THE COLOMBIA GATE
In the meantime, again in La Repubblica just last year, after the Colombiagate explosion in the newspapers (with La Verità reporting the story first), D'Alema had entrusted his version of events.
“I would not have taken a euro from the weapons sold to Colombia. In Bogota they were interested in Italian products and I warned Leonardo and Fincantieri about this, but also the deputy defense minister Mulè ”, the former prime minister explained to the newspaper in March 2022.
In Repubblica , D'Alema specified that since he left his political role (in 2013, ed ) he carries out “a regular consultancy activity: I have my own company and I also work with Ernst&Young, of which I am chairman of the advisory board. My job is that of strategic consultancy, relationships, but I'm not one who goes into sales mediation". “Per my company's corporate policy, I do not accept assignments from public companies. But only privately. It wouldn't be forbidden, mind you. But I think it's more right this way”, D'Alema pointed out.
So why does your name emerge in the negotiations between Fincantieri and Leonardo? "I have no working relationship with either Fincantieri or Leonardo and I did not deal on behalf of anyone," he assured Repubblica D'Alema.
THE HEARING OF PERFUME
"D'Alema had no mandate, formal or informal, to negotiate on Leonardo's behalf" in Colombia. This was underlined by the then CEO of Leonardo Alessandro Profumo at the Senate Defense Commission during his hearing in the Senate in April 2022.
Leonardo's former number one had then admitted that he had “participated in a video call with D'Alema, but from my office. It was supposed to greet the Colombian defense minister who didn't show up and was extremely quick".
In the specific case, “President D'Alema, also in relation to his institutional history, suggested to Leonardo that these opportunities could be more concrete but immediately clarified that he would remain completely extraneous to future intermediation activities. On the basis of this solution, the company has started the activities to verify the feasibility of these additional opportunities” highlighted Leonardo's CEO. In the case of the negotiations with Colombia which involved the former prime minister Massimo D'Alema, "we have not arrived at the request for the contract", remarked Profumo.
THE FIRST POLITICAL COMMENTS
At the time of the parliamentary hearings of the top management of Leonardo and Fincantieri, the position of the then Undersecretary of Defense Giorgio Mulè (for Forza Italia) was that "The government is waiting for the audits and then the Ministry of the Economy, which supervises the two groups , will evaluate what to do”. In fact, we recall that both Leonardo and Fincantieri are state-owned companies.
But the center-right parties (Lega, Forza Italia and Fratelli d'Italia) and Italia Viva had protested about the positions expressed by Alessandro Profumo in the commission. To date, after the news of the searches by the Digos in Naples, there are few political comments.
“Obviously I am a guarantor and I believe that everyone can legitimately carry out business and commercial activity in compliance with current regulations. And I wish the people involved in the investigation to demonstrate their non-involvement in any responsibility. I say it sincerely" declared the Senator of Forza Italia Maurizio Gasparri, who adds: "However I remember having raised, in the Defense Commission of the Senate, in the last legislature, the story of the sale of arms to Colombia with improper interventions by private subjects in connection with those who had important responsibilities at the time in the Leonardo group. I solicited hearings which were then held at my request. And sincerely singular, not to say disturbing, events had emerged. The ongoing investigations are therefore inevitable.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/armi-alla-colombia-dalema-e-profumo-indagati/ on Tue, 06 Jun 2023 14:18:46 +0000.