Legal News

Unglaublich! Trial Date Set for New Siemens Bribery Charges

By Markus Balser

Or should we make that einfach unglaublich?! As bad as things have been over in Deutschland’s Siemens, they just got a little worse.

Europe’s largest engineering company has been mired for some time in a major corruption scandal over slush funds operated to secure international orders. Now comes word of a new chapter. German authorities plan to start the trial involving a former company official over alleged irregular payments made to a trade union in hopes of gaining an advantage over its workers. For all those German readers, here’s the report from the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Andreas Quentin, judge and spokesman for the Nuremberg courts, told the LB on Friday that court proceedings could start by the end of September. Click here, here, here and here for earlier LB posts on the situation at Siemens.

Authorities are accusing Johannes Feldmayer (pictured), a former Siemens board member who was once seen as a candidate for the CEO position, of authorizing more than 30 million euros in payments to a workers group to build up employer-friendly labor relations. It’s the first former board member charged in the corruption scandal that has been dogging the company for more than 18 months.

Feldmayer and Wilhelm Schelsky, former head of the Association of Independent Employees (AUB), allegedly signed a contract in 2001 that hid financial support for the workers group, investigators say. Invoices were sent to Feldmayer’s private address and then channeled into Siemens’ accounting system, according to prosecutors. The AUB frequently gave its blessing to controversial decisions made by the Siemens management. Both men have been charged in the case.

The list of 100 named witnesses could turn the trial into one of the most complex white collar prosecutions Germany has ever seen. A spokesperson for Siemens stressed the company was cooperating with prosecutors. Schelsky’s attorney Juergen Lubojanski denied that his client has aided breach of trust. Feldmayer’s attorney Martin Reyman-Brauer didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 08, 2008 (boomark / email).