Finmeccanica Appoints New CEO Following Orsi’s Arrest

The Finmeccanica group has today appointed Alessandro Pansa as the company’s CEO and COO after his predecessor Giuseppe Orsi was arrested on charges on money laundering and corruption.

Pansa, who was COO of the company, will be “insuring comprehensive management of the company and the group,” the firm said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the board of directors appointed senior member retired Adm. Guido Venturoni as vice chairman. But a new chairman has not yet been named.

Italian police arrested Orsi on Tuesday in connection with an investigation into suspected bribes paid to Indian officials to secure a VVIP helicopter deal.

Bruno Spagnolini, head of Finmeccanica helicopter unit AgustaWestland, along with Orsi was placed under house arrest.

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The devices are part of a portable class of biometrics-based hardware and software products that allows built-in cameras on smartphones or tablets the ability to do facial recognition or with the help of additional sensors, provide fingerprint and iris recognition, the statement added.

SMI could also allow a border agent to quickly identify a person at a security checkpoint. In the event of a disaster, SMI could be used to help limit fraud by ensuring financial aid is disbursed to the people who are in critical need, the company said.

Users of these systems in-field will benefit from a more compact, lightweight, versatile and accurate identity verification device than has previously been available,” Dean Senner, chairman and chief executive of AOptix said in a statement.