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All Eyes Are On Siemens

The Big Show these days for followers of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is Siemens' global bribery scandal. To wit, the print and online versions of the November 16, 2007 Wall Street Journal carried a brilliantly reported Page One story based on the fact statement compiled by the Munich public prosecutor ("Ruling Details Bribery Across the Globe"). The lead says, "Scandal-scarred Siemens AG paid millions of euros in bribes to cabinet ministers and dozens of other officials in Nigeria, Russia and Libya as it sought to win lucrative contracts for telecommunications equipment, according to a court ruling that depicts a pattern of bribery by one manager. The document, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, offers the most detailed picture to date of the scandal that has ensnared one of the world's biggest conglomerates in investigations across the globe." The online story is here but is by subscription only.

Business Week's November 15, 2007 online edition questions Siemens' prospects for a quick resolution with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Siemens might be in a hurry to put alleged FCPA violations behind it, the story says, "[b]ut U.S. enforcers may be tough to placate. The bribery scandal comes in the midst of a drive by Washington to hold foreign companies to the same standards as their U.S. competitors. 'Global corruption undercuts democracy and the rule of law; it destabilizes markets; and, it creates an uneven playing field for those companies who are committed to playing by the rules,' U.S. Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher told an audience of anti-corruption specialists in Alexandria (Va.) on Nov. 13, according to her prepared remarks." The story can be found here.

Lots more will be said and written about Siemens' corruption saga in the coming weeks and months.

Siemens AG's ADRs trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SI.

View Prior Posts About Siemens Here.

Full post as published by The FCPA Blog on November 18, 2007 (boomark / email).