Violation of law 185/1990, which governs the export of arms, and possible violations of the so-called Golden Power legislation, which protects strategic Italian companies. These are the crimes contested by the Guardia di Finanza of Pordenone against the Alpi Aviation company of San Quirino, excellence in the production of military drones, aircraft and spacecraft (also among the suppliers of the Armed Forces and Leonardo spa) which was recently taken over through an offshore company from two major Chinese state-owned companies. The yellow flames denounced six managers (three Italians and three Chinese). RELATIONS WITH IRAN
As reported in March on Formiche.net, the Friulian company has already been the subject of an investigation by the Pordenone Financial Police for an alleged violation of the international embargo against Iran for a sale of strix military drones, those used by our military in Afghanistan, to the Islamic Republic. And also on these pages we had told of a cable from US diplomacy that in 2009 warned Italy of possible triangulations with Iran by Alpi Aviation: the US State Department invited the US embassy in Rome to ask the Italian Customs to verify an intelligence report from Japan; for three months the Italian authorities monitored the company but found no evidence of illicit trafficking; the US calls for continued surveillance,THE INVESTIGATIONS ON THE AIR SURFACE
The operation of the Fiamme Gialle had originally been started with investigations on an airfield, included in the area of the military state property, which saw a synergistic occupation, in the absence of authorizations, by a private aeroclub (formally a non-profit organization operating in non-existent Civil Protection activities) and of an industrial company operating in the manufacture of aircraft and spacecraft, as well as in the design and production of military-type UAV systems certified for such use in compliance with NATO “stanag” standards. This would be the “La Comina” area, very close to the Usaf base in Aviano that the company would use thanks to the “shielding” guaranteed by the Pordenone non-profit organization. THE ACQUISITION IN 2018
Subsequent investigations have ascertained that the company, in 2018, was purchased, for 75 per cent, by a foreign company in Hong Kong (Mars Information Technology Co, as we explained on Formiche.net), set up ad hoc before the purchase of the shares and independently without financial resources. Alpi Aviation was valued with a significantly revalued share value compared to the nominal one (90 times higher: 3,995,000 euros against 45,000 euros). The director of the operation was Dentons, one of the most important law firms in the world. In the curriculum vitae of Pei Qiu , Dentons’ senior partner, the consultancy for the acquisition of Alpi Aviation is prominently displayed, “the first transaction of its kind, in which a Chinese holding company acquired a company in the high tech in Europe “.
Current scheme of participation and control of the Pordenone company (Guardia di Finanza) – Click to enlarge THE CHINESE STATE COMPANIES
The buyer, through complex shareholdings, would be attributable to two important government companies of the People’s Republic of China, explain the Yellow Flames. But the takeover would have been perfected so as not to bring out the new shareholder, with delays in administrative communications and failing to inform the presidency of the Council of Ministers in advance of the purchase of the majority of the company, violating the Golden Power legislation which attributes special powers to the Italian authorities on the corporate structures of strategic realities in various sectors. “OPAQUE MODE”
The Guardia di Finanza explained that the takeover was “completed with opaque methods aimed at not bringing out the traceability of the new foreign shareholder”. In fact, the company communicated the change in the company structure to the Ministry of Defense only two years after the purchase and at the request of the ministerial officials; and failed to communicate in advance to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers the purchase of 75% of the share capital of the Italian company, in violation of the Golden Power prescriptions. OBJECTIVE: TO ACQUIRE ITALIAN KNOW-HOW
The purchase, the investigators still explain, would not have had investment purposes but the acquisition of technological and military know-how, which led to planning the transfer of the production structure to the technological hub of Wuxi, an industrial city of 7 million inhabitants. in Jiangsu province and less than 150 kilometers from Shanghai considered the laboratory of Chinese artificial intelligence. Transactions not formalized, according to the Guardia di Finanza, in company deeds and for which authorization had not been requested in advance from the competent Italian ministries.
The investigations also affect other Italian companies: according to the investigators of the Pordenone Yellow Flames, the interest of Chinese entrepreneurs would also have manifested itself in other strategic sectors, which fall within the discipline of Golden power. The companies in question, quite well-known, would be operating in Segrate and Rome: the first in the sector of waste treatment and generation of energy from the same (Greenthesis), the second in services related to information technology (Almaviva). STATEMENTS OF COMMENTUCCI (GDF)
“Investments by foreign entities in the national territory, per se, have positive repercussions for the national economic system, as long as they are attributable to real investment operations, of a financial nature or the development of business programs. In this case, the purchase of the Pordenone company had different purposes: it concerned the acquisition of its technology, also of a military type, and its relocation abroad “, said Colonel Stefano Commentucci , commander of the Guardia di Finanza of Pordenone. . “These are conducts for which many states, including Italy, have set limits that derogate from the principles of competition and freedom of investment”. THE BREACH ON THE SILK ROUTE
The Yellow Flames also confirmed the export to China of a military UAV (remotely piloted aircraft) for the Shanghai International Import Fair in 2019 for over a year. as a UAV or drone system, but falsely as a “radio-controlled model airplane”. It was November 2019, the year of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Silk Road between Italy and China. Traces of that participation can be found in an article published on the classxhsilkroad.it platform, born from the partnership between the official Chinese news agency Xinhua and the Italian group ClassEditori, an article is published (under the pseudonym of Mauro Romano). “We are very optimistic about the development of the megalopolis”, explained the managing director, Massimo Tammaro , former commander of the Frecce Tricolori and later manager of Ferrari. NORTH-EAST IN THE TARGET OF BEIJING
The Alpi Aviation affair had rekindled the debate in the North-East on Chinese aims, already evident in relation to the Trieste logistics platform. “The investigation by the Guardia di Finanza of Pordenone revealed how pervasive is the activity of China in the economic system of our country, with particular reference to companies with high technological value and, as we have seen, referable to important sectors of the military” , declared Michelangelo Agrusti, president of Confindustria Alto Adriatico, “There remains concern for the fate of the company in question, but we are confident that, with the help of the government, it will be able to return to Italian hands”. THE BALL GOES TO PALAZZO CHIGI
And now what will happen
Since the notification was not made within the required time frame, the situation is now in the field of sanctions and no longer authorizing. The sanctioning mechanism ranges from the suspension of voting rights to the nullity of the deeds (including the sale of the company). An administrative sanction is also envisaged for an amount up to double the value of the transaction and in any case not less than 1 percent of the turnover achieved by the company concerned in the last financial year for which the financial statements were approved, as well as a series of ancillary measures (such as restoring the status quo ante). This is an unprecedented situation. The decision rests with the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with a provision that will eventually be challenged by the TAR. Meanwhile, Alpi Aviation,LA REPLICA DI ALPI AVIATION
Alpi Aviation issued a note in which “it firmly denies that the conduct of the company must recognize violations of the rules for the protection of Golden power and the legislation that regulates the transfer of strategic information or technology outside the national territory, reserves all actions to protect its image “. As regards the sale of the shares of Alpi Aviation, “the same took place in a transparent manner, with reference to the real value of the company and in compliance with tax regulations”, we read again.
(In the photo an unarmed military drone UAV Strix-DF, Alpi Aviation)
