NEWS | Wednesday, 30 July 2008

Siemens to sue 11 former executives

Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering conglomerate, yesterday unearthed a scandal it was involved in between 2002 and 2006, claiming it would sue two of its former CEOs and nine other ex-executives as they are now being blamed for supervisory failings relating to illegal payments during the period of the scandal.
Siemens is currently being investigated for serious bribery, involving Heinz-Joachim Neubürger, former chief financial officer, Karl-Hermann Baumann, another former CFO and ex-chairman, and Johannes Feldmayer, a former management board member. The investigation has found questionable payments of roughly €1.3 billion, or $1.9 billion, from 2002 to 2006 that have triggered a broad range of inquiries in Germany, the United States and many other countries.
In May 2007 a German court convicted two former executives of paying about €6 million in bribes from 1999 to 2002 to help Siemens win natural gas turbine supply contracts with Enel, an Italian energy company. The contracts were valued at about €450 million. Siemens was fined €38 million.
Siemens has tightened its internal controls, and implemented strict compliance and anti-corruption measures throughout the company.
It did not specify how much money it would demand from the executives.