Italian firm Leonardo said its CEO Mauro Moretti will stay on the job, despite being convicted by an Italian court on Tuesday for his alleged role in a train crash in 2009, during his time as head of Italy's railways.
Moretti was handed a seven year jail sentence for his responsibility for the crash of a cargo train carrying liquefied gas in the Italian town of Viareggio, which killed 32.
Under Italy's complex legal system, the sentence will now be followed by up to two appeal trials, which could take years. During that time, Moretti will not be jailed.
Furthermore, the conviction may be timed out by the statute of limitations before the final verdict is reached.
Before he took over Leonardo in 2014, Moretti ran Italy's Ferrovie dello Stato railway company from September 2006 until April 2014. Prosecutors at the trial said senior railway management should be held responsible for the chain of errors which had led to the crash and also blamed management for diverting investment in the network from regional lines like the one at Viareggio to high speed main lines.
In a statement released after the verdict, Leonardo’s board said it continued to have "full trust" in Moretti. The statement noted that Moretti’s sentence was not definitive, given that appeals will follow.
The statement added that legal experts consulted by the firm had concluded the sentence would not prevent Moretti from representing the firm in overseas bids, nor were the offenses "relevant for the purposes of security clearances."
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
