The Golden Power is triggered on the sale of an Italian drone company to China. The Council of Ministers decided on Thursday 10 March to cancel the 2018 sale of the military drone company Alpi Aviation to the Hong Kong-based Mars Information Technology company, attributable to Chinese state-owned companies. The news was confirmed by sources of Palazzo Chigi.
The investigation
The financial operation ended last autumn in the sights of the Pordenone Guardia di Finanza, whose investigation had led to the contestation of the violation of the law on the handling of weapons materials and possible violations of the so-called “golden power” legislation, which protects strategic Italian companies. Six managers were reported, three Italians and three Chinese. Alpi Aviation is an Italian company that produces military drones, aircraft and spacecraft and supplies the Italian armed forces, among other things, and is therefore subject to specific controls and surveillance. The Guardia di Finanza had contested in particular the fact that the takeover, with respect to the original Italian property, had been completed in such a way 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 acquisition of the majority of the company, thus violating the “Golden Power” which attributes special powers to the Italian authorities over the structure of strategic realities in various sectors.
Military know-how
In short, according to the investigations of the Guardia di Finanza, the purchase was not for investment purposes but the acquisition of technological and military know-how, which had led to planning the transfer of the production structure to the technological center of Wuxi, a city-laboratory. of Chinese artificial intelligence close to Shanghai. Through its lawyers, the company had denied “violations of the rules protecting the golden power and the legislation that regulates the transfer of strategic information or technology outside the national territory”, specifying that the sale of the shares had “occurred in transparent way, with reference to the real value of the company and in compliance with tax regulations “.