Italian Police Detained British Gas Workers

Italian police arrested five people Monday, including a local British Gas manager, in a corruption probe into the construction in southern Italy of a gas plant by BG Group PLC.

The five were arrested at dawn by police across Italy, and include the current chairman of BG Italia, the group's Italian arm, and two former managers, according to financial police in the southern port town of Brindisi.

Prosecutors believe chairman Franco Fassio, former chairman Yvonne Barton and former CEO Fabio Fontana paid bribes to local administrators to speed up the go-ahead for the construction of the liquefied natural gas terminal in Brindisi, police Maj. Massimiliano Tibollo said.