German government to buy three new Bombardier jets
Germany’s government will buy three new Bombardier jets this year, RND newspapers reported on Tuesday, adding that the deal would have a volume of 240 million euros ($268.51 million).
The finance ministry is willing to approve the on-top budget request by the defense ministry to unlock the funds, RND reported, citing a confidential document the finance ministry sent to the budget commission in the lower house of parliament.
Germany’s government fleet, transporting Angela Merkel and ministers around the world, has been grappling with a series of technical incidents and outages over the last months. It has decided to order three new Airbus A350-900 aircrafts in April.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-aircrafts-bombardier/german-government-to-buy-three-new-bombardier-jets-papers-idUSKCN1TJ23D?
>>6778930 pb
Marriot Grp Pres. sold $1.02m in shares-June 17
Marriott International specializes in hotel operating. Net sales break down by activity area as follows:
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North America (88.3%): full-service hotels (80.2% of net sales; Ritz-Carlton, EDITION, JW Marriott, Autograph Collection Hotels, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Hotels and Gaylord brands) and other (19.8%; AC Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites and TownePlace Suites) ;
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Asia/Pacific (5.4%): The Westin Denarau Island Resort, Sheraton Fiji Resort, The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo and The St. Regis Osaka brands;
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other (6.3%): Ritz-Carlton, Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, EDITION, JW Marriott, Autograph Collection Hotels, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments, AC Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, TownePlace Suites, Protea Hotels and Moxy Hotels brands.
At the end of 2018, the group operated 6,906 hotel facilities (1,317,368 rooms) distributed between franchised hotels (4,735; 729,413 rooms), managed hotels (1,957; 549,664 rooms), owned and leased hotels (63; 17 095) and other (151; 21,196).
Number of employees : 177 000 people.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1048286.htm
today
Marriott International : appoints new multi-property GM for Kuwait hotels
https://www.marketscreener.com/MARRIOTT-INTERNATIONAL-14633490/news/Marriott-International-appoints-new-multi-property-GM-for-Kuwait-hotels-28772495/
Banks face new challenges in Italian diamond scandal
MILAN (Reuters) - A long-running criminal probe into diamond sales by Italian banks has uncovered what prosecutors say is further evidence of corruption by officials at UniCredit, Italy’s largest lender, and smaller rival Banco BPM.
The allegations, some previously unreported, are laid out in documents used by prosecutors when they sought a magistrate’s order seizing assets from the banks and two diamond brokers. Reuters viewed the documents, which also included excerpts of wire taps and witness statements.
The allegations relate to suspected crimes and do not necessarily mean that prosecutors will charge the companies and their employees when their investigation, which has been running since 2016, is concluded.
The number of bank officials under suspicion, and the allegations they may face if they are charged, however, are widening.
In a new development, officials from UniCredit and Banco BPM are also suspected of corruption because broker Intermarket Diamond Business (IDB) invested some of its profits from the diamond sales in the banks’ shares, according to evidence gathered by prosecutors.
In addition to UniCredit and Banco BPM, Intesa Sanpaolo and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena are also under investigation.
In February, magistrates guiding the probe ordered the seizure of more than 700 million euros in assets from the two brokers and five banks.
UniCredit said in a statement to Reuters it was cooperating closely with authorities and its policy was not to comment on an ongoing investigation. It would “continue to offer appropriate customer care services to its affected clients”.
Lawyers for Banco BPM, Banca Aletti, Intesa Sanpaolo and IDB did not respond to requests for comment. Monte dei Paschi’s lawyers declined to comment.
In a long-running scandal in a sector already tarnished by controversy, Italy’s biggest banks are suspected of colluding with diamond brokers to scam their own customers — allegedly selling them diamonds at vastly inflated prices while marketing them as sound financial investments.
All of the banks, along with a Banco BPM subsidiary, Banca Aletti, are suspected of fraud and money-laundering for using the proceeds to boost profits, according to allegations laid out in the documents used for the seizure order.
Prosecutors also allege that UniCredit and Banco BPM worked out a deal with IDB where, in return for the banks selling IDB’s diamonds, the broker would channel money into their stock, boosting their share capital at a time when it was under pressure from a rising tide of bad debts.
Under Italian law it is deemed to be corruption when one party abuses its commercial position to induce the counterparty to provide it with favors — in this case, the alleged purchase of shares. The IDB officials involved are also under investigation.
According to a criminal lawyer when asked by Reuters, under Italian law, if the banks are charged and convicted, they could be fined millions of euros, risk forfeiting the total of 161 million euros seized from them in February and could even be temporarily suspended from operating by court order.
They could also be ordered to pay compensation to victims, with sums to be decided by a civil court.
More than 100,000 people are estimated to have bought diamonds at Italian banks over the last 20 years, judicial sources say.
Banks have been selling diamonds on behalf of brokers in Italy since the 1980s but they ramped up the business after the global financial crisis, according to prosecutors, when a deep recession left them saddled with soured loans and looking for alternative revenue sources.
Banco BPM, Italy’s third-largest bank, was known as Banco Popolare in 2016 when it was looking to raise capital to fund its merger with Banca Popolare di Milano.
In a telephone conversation in early June 2016, a transcript of which was seen by Reuters, the former CEO of IDB complained that Banco Popolare was insisting he invest in the bank’s shares.
Giacobazzi died last year. IDB went bankrupt in January and is in liquidation.
IDB invested more than 7 million euros in shares and share options in UniCredit in 2012, and a total of more than 950,000 euros in Banco Popolare shares in 2014 and 2016, according to the February order authorizing the seizure of the banks’ assets. Reuters reviewed a copy of the order.
rest at link
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eurozone-banks-italy-diamonds-exclusi/exclusive-banks-face-new-challenges-in-italian-diamond-scandal-idUSKCN1TI0H5?
many things that we do at different locations are combined at italian banks, for example if you want to buy a match ticket, as a foreigner, you go to the bank and do it there-also have to show passport as well.
o7
that did not last very long
get over it.
>Tungsten, Tantalum, Tin and Gold.Conflict minerals and the Dodd-Frank Act?
since the DF act was nothing moar than a cover for other activities I would say yes