Toronto: Ornge former chief executive officer Chris Mazza hosted a dinner in 2010 with two senior ministers in then-premier Dalton McGuinty’s government and an Italian helicopter official now at the centre of an alleged bribery scheme.
The purpose of the dinner was to help Giuseppe Orsi, who was chief executive officer of Italian helicopter maker AgustaWestland, expand the company’s reach into Canada, according to people who were there. But taxpayers picked up the $1,215.20 tab for the dinner at a trattoria in Toronto’s tony Yorkville neighbourhood.
Mr. Orsi, now chairman of AgustaWestland parent company Finmeccanica, was arrested on Tuesday in Italy. He faces bribery allegations in connection with the sale of military helicopters to the Indian government. No charges have been laid and Mr. Orsi has denied any wrongdoing, according to Reuters.
AgustaWestland sold 12 helicopters to Ornge, which operates the province’s air ambulance service, for $148-million in 2010. Later that same year – on Sept. 22 – Dwight Duncan, finance minister, and his Windsor, Ont., cabinet colleague Sandra Pupatello dined at Vaticano Restaurant with Mr. Orsi, Dr. Mazza and eight others. Both say the dinner left a bad taste in their mouths.
“It was a bizarre meeting,” Mr. Duncan said in an interview, adding that the AgustaWestland executives were interested only in talking about selling helicopters to the federal government. “We didn’t even talk about Ornge,” he said. “I was frankly a little bit annoyed when the meeting was done because I didn’t think it was a good use of my time.”
13/02/13 Karen Howlett/The Globe and Mail
