Last Thursday 15th October, an Italian court sentenced the former Chairman of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) bank, Alessandro Profumo, and the former CEO, Fabrizio Viola.  The pair have each been given six years in prison for irregularities regarding the financial accounts between 2012 and 2015, as well as a fine of 2.5M euros, and a ban on holding a role in a public company for the next five years.

Profumo is the current CEO of Leonardo Group.

The Italian State recapitalized MPS in 2017 to prevent its bankruptcy, a public aid plan that was approved by the EU and whose objective was to provide the entity with the necessary resources to undertake a deep restructuring and clean up its accounts.

Adriano Raffaelli, the defence lawyer  for Profumo and Viola, has issued a statement saying that he will appeal the sentence.

Leonardo issued a statement as follows

“With regards to the judgement in the first instance of Mr. Alessandro Profumo, relating to his previous role as Chairman of MPS, the Company would like to make clear that the conditions do not exist for the cessation of his role as Chief Executive Officer of Leonardo. The Company expresses its full confidence in the actions of Mr. Profumo and wishes for his continuation in the role.”

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com