Chopper deal: Reveal names of journalists on Giuseppe Orsi's payroll, demands Italian lawmaker

New Delhi: In the wake of corruption allegations against Finmeccanica, an Italian lawmaker has reportedly asked Prime Minister Mario Monti to reveal the names of journalists and media workers on the payroll of former CEO of the defence firm Giuseppe Orsi. Senator Raffaele Lauro, a member of the Italian Finance Committee, asked Monti to "eradicate the rot" of alleged collusion between world of information and top management of companies, according to Italian media reports.

"If not covered by the confidentiality of investigations, the list of journalists and media workers on the payroll of Orsi should be made known immediately," a report quoted Lauro as saying.

The report filed by Italian investigators in the court of Tribunale Busto Arsizio there had alleged that Orsi had told Finmeccanica's chief press officer to manage at least 20 journalists for 20-30 months for a print campaign to improve the image of the firm.

Italian probe reports have alleged that Finmeccanica reportedly sought to \'manage\' a few journalists for a favourable print campaign.

Lauro is a member of the Italian senate and the Prefect. Meanwhile, the Italian court on Monday resumed hearing in the case. Orsi's lawyer has denied that his client had in any way tried to pressurise the Italian court looking into the matter and getting the prosecutor changed.

India has already initiated steps to cancel the helicopter deal and issued a show cause notice to it saying why the deal should not be cancelled in view of the recent developments in the case.

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