US embassy cable - 05ROME2011

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ROME 002011 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
AMEMBASSY PARIS PLEASE PASS TO USOECD MORELLA, MELISSA 
HOROWITZ, PAUL BROWN 
DEPT FOR EB ACTING A/S DONNELLY AND EB/OIA WSCHOLTZ; 
EUR A/S FRIED AND EUR/WE KALLEGRONE, JADAMS 
NSC FOR KVOLKER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/13/2015 
TAGS: ECON, EFIN, IT, OECD 
SUBJECT: ITALY MAY ESCALATE OECD BRIBERY WORKING GROUP 
ISSUE TO PRESIDENT BUSH 
 
REF: A. BROWN/REDDY EMAILS 
 
     B. ROME 1967 
     C. ROME 1695 
 
Classified By: A/Ecmin Couns Kathleen Reddy for Reasons 1.4 (b),(d). 
 
1.  (U) This is an action request.  Please see paras. 1 and 6 
below. 
 
SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUESTED 
---------------------------- 
 
2.  (C) Italy continues to press to delay the election of the 
Chairman of the OECD "Working Group Against Bribery of 
Foreign Public Officials in International Business 
Transactions" (WGB) and to seek other candidate(s) for the 
position, other than the current chair Mark Pieth.  Italy 
alleges that Pieth has made broad innuendos, both before the 
WGB and in public, questioning Italy's commitment to combat 
bribery of foreign public officials and the integrity of 
Italy's Ministers, including Prime Minister Berlusconi. 
Italy claims these allegations are not only false and have 
never been proven in a court of law, but are outside the 
purview of the WGB and Chairman Pieth.  Italy does not want 
to oppose the election (now scheduled for tomorrow), lest 
Chairman Pieth make public/press statements that Italy 
opposed his reelection because Italy could not take the heat 
on the bribery (and not for the reasons Italy believes are 
legitimate (reftels and 5 below)).  If Italy cannot have the 
election postponed to give all WGB members time to find other 
suitable candidates, PM Berlusconi will raise the issue 
immediately with President Bush.  We understand Italy's 
Ambassador Vento will also seek appointments on an urgent 
basis with A/S Fried, Acting A/S Donnelly, and/or NSC Volker. 
 Action requested.  If it has not already done so, request 
the Department issue instructions to USOECD Paris on whether 
the USG can vote to delay the election of a new WGB chair. 
End summary and action requested. 
 
3.  (C) Ambassador Marco Maresca, Diplomatic Advisor to 
Justice Minister Roberto Castelli, called Acting Economic 
Minister Counselor today to say Italy was frustrated in Paris 
by its efforts to try to delay the WGB reelection of Mark 
Pieth as WGB chair June 14.  Italy's OECD Ambassador 
(Olivieri) had reportedly spoken both with the Secretary 
General and with Ambassador Morella on Italy's concerns about 
Pieth (reftels and para. 5 below) and the need to delay the 
election to find other suitable candidate(s).  Reportedly, 
the Secretary General said that he himself could not alter 
the WGB agenda; only two-thirds of WGB members could do so. 
Italy would then need to mount the campaign to find the 
support it needed among member states.  Reportedly, when 
Ambassador Olivieri approached Ambassador Morella, she said 
she had no instructions for the U.S. to support a delay. 
(Comment: Italy sees U.S. support here as necessary to win 
the support of the necessary two-thirds of WGB membership. 
End comment.) 
 
4.  (C)  Maresca said that Minister Castelli, who had called 
in Ambassador Sembler last week on Italian concerns about 
Pieth, continues to follow this issue "at every turn."   The 
Minister, in view of the lack of progress of Italy's 
Ambassador at OECD, may recommend that the Prime Minister now 
call President Bush.  Reportedly, the Prime Minister would 
frame the issue in the following way:  that Chairman Pieth 
has now served for seven years and is seeking two more (OECD 
rules reportedly limit chairmen's terms to no more than three 
consecutive years); that he has gone unchallenged and thus 
can act autonomously; that he makes "false" allegations about 
Italian Ministers and the Prime Minister without having to 
answer to anyone at OECD for his false charges; and that 
keeping Chairman Pieth in power during Italy's tough national 
elections next spring may embolden him to make false, 
unsubstantiated public allegations again about the Prime 
Minister's character - risking the Prime Minister to lose the 
election. 
 
5.   (C)  In view of the imminent WGB election, Ambassador 
Maresca will call Ambassador Vento in Washington and instruct 
him to urgently request appointments with EUR A/S Fried, EB 
Acting A/S Donnelly, and/or NSC Kurt Volker to see if 
instructions could be issued to Ambassador Morella to support 
Italy's case to delay the elections.  Ambassador Maresca 
underscored, even if the elections were to be postponed, 
Italy would view the postponement as an opportunity to search 
for other candidates.  Under no conditions, he said, would 
Italy agree ever to support Pieth for reelection. 
 
TEXT OF ITALY'S NONPAPER ON CHAIRMAN PIETH 
------------------------------------------ 
 
6.  Below please find an informal translation of the nonpaper 
in which Italy outlines its concerns about the reelection of 
Chairman Pieth. 
 
Begin text of Embassy's informal translation. 
 
The most significant events of the Pieth Chairmanship, 
concerning Italy, can be summarized as follows: 
 
a) November 2001:  Chairman Pieth made statements to the 
Working Group expressing serious concern about Italian laws 
on false accounting and letters rogatory and about the 
Italian Government's attitude in supporting the fight against 
corruption.  The Chairman's remarks, according to him, were 
based on press articles, from talks with public prosecutors 
in Milan (whose names had also been made public), as well as 
on the biography and background of P.M. Silvio Berlusconi. 
 
b) January 2002:  During the end of Phase I for Italy, 
(relative to the laws referred to in "a" above), when Italy 
objected to (Mr. Pieth's) review of Phase I,  (Mr. Pieth's) 
justification was that the Italian "exceptional situation" 
required an effective response. 
 
c) June 2002:  Both the British and the Mexican reviewers 
were fully convinced that Italy had passed the Phase I 
review.  Nevertheless, Chairman Pieth claimed that there 
needed to be a mention in the final report of the existence 
of "perplexities," perplexities expressed only by the 
Chairman himself and despite the favorable opinion of the 
examiners. 
 
d) June 2003:  There was a decision to hold the Phase II 
review for Italy in the second half of 2003. 
 
e) September 2003:  Chairman Pieth solicited, and obtained 
from the OECD Secretary General, a note asking the U.S. 
Government to "encourage" Italy to accept the Phase II review 
during the Italian Presidency of the European Union, even 
though the magistrates involved in the review were already 
involved full-time with the Presidency.  Italian delegates 
Iannini and Papa met a representative of the U.S. Embassy in 
Rome and clarified why Italy needed to postpone the Phase II 
review. 
 
f) April 2004:  Phase II review for Italy was held ...without 
the presence of leaders in the OECD Secretariat. 
 
g) November 2004:  Italy passed the Phase II review, but 
Chairman Pieth called a press conference and issued a press 
release (which has never happened for any other country) to 
state that the Chairman, despite the results of the review, 
was not fully satisfied with Italian legislation (against 
bribery of foreign public officials in international business 
transactions). 
 
h) November 2004.  The Italian Government requested that 
Chairman Pieth change his position, but he never complied 
with this request. 
 
i) March 2002:  A select study group (called the Lugano 
Group) was established and charged with changing WGB 
procedures, and Italy is a member of this group.  However, 
since November 2002. Chairman Pieth has not convened a 
meeting. 
 
j) January 2005:  Negative results of Phase II review for 
Japan.  The U.S.A. and Italy, the examining countries, 
expressed a negative judgment of Japan's regulatory system 
(against bribery of foreign public officials in international 
business transactions).  Chairman Pieth, as an exception to 
the previous procedures for all other countries, inexplicably 
asked to postpone any decision (on Japan) after another visit 
to Japan that he, alone personally, decided must occur in 
February 2006.  This has, in fact, prevented the conclusion 
of the Phase II review for Japan, and actually caused 
perplexities for many delegations. 
 
These facts demonstrate concretely that it is a problem for 
Italy to confirm its consensus for the Chairman,s 
re-election. 
 
End text of informal translation. 
 
 
COMMENT AND ACTION REQUESTED 
---------------------------- 
 
6.  Italy's views on Chairman Pieth are entrenched at all 
levels of the government.  While Italy appreciates 
USG-supported moves to give Italy more of a say in managing 
the WGB and its work (ref A), the real issue is the election 
of a new chairman.  Request that Department issue 
instructions to USOECD Paris on whether the U.S. can support 
the delay for the election of a new chairman.  Department's 
assistance is appreciated.  End comment and action requested. 
 
SEMBLER 
 
 
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 2005ROME02011 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL