WASHINGTON, JAN 11
A senior executive of a valve manufacturing company in the US allegedly bribed officials of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) to bag lucrative contracts between March 2003 and 2007, the US government has charged.
Mario Covino, an Italian national, executive of the unnamed company, who resides in Irvine California, pleaded guilty before a US District Court judge to the charges of making corrupt payments to the tune of Rs 482 crore to officials of several State-owned entities worldwide including MSEB from India.
The company, whose name has not been released by the US Department of Justice, designed and manufactured service control valves for use in nuclear, gas and power generation industries worldwide.
According to the court documents, the corrupt payments were made to officials of foreign government entities between March 2003 and 2007 when Covino, was director, worldwide factory sales of the company.
The 44-year-old executive was responsible for overseeing new construction projects and the replacement of existing valves installed at customer plants in more than 30 countries.
