There are no Italian-made helicopters at the base of the Armenian Armed Forces, Tigran Balayan, Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, has told an ArmInfo correspondent when commenting on the Azerbaijani media reports "on illegal deals on Armenia's acquisition of military helicopters from the Italian mafia". The Defense Ministry of Armenia has given a similar reply to ArmInfo's request.
Earlier the Azerbaijani media outlets disseminated information about "an illegal deal between the Italian mafia and a number of countries, including Armenia, on acquisition of civil helicopters which were later reequipped into military ones by Elicotteri Srl Italiya". According to the Azerbaijani mass media, the proceeding on the given deals has lasted in Italy for a year and the key persons involved in the case are Andrea Pardi, the head of Elicotteri Srl Italiya, and Bruno Scapini, the ex-ambassador of Italy to Armenia.