Siemens 2008 Annual Report Download - page 275

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 179
(in millions of €, except where otherwise stated and per share amounts)
30 Legal Proceedings
Public corruption proceedings
Governmental and related proceedings
Public prosecutors and other government authorities in jurisdictions around the world are conducting investi-
gations of Siemens and certain of our current and former employees regarding allegations of public corruption,
including criminal breaches of duciary duty including embezzlement, as well as bribery, money laundering
and tax evasion, among others. These investigations involve allegations of corruption at a number of Siemens’
business units.
On October 4, 2007, pursuant to the application of the Munich prosecutor, the Munich district court imposed a
ne of €201 on Siemens. According to the court’s decision, a former manager of the former Communications
(Com) Group, acting in concert with others, committed bribery of foreign public ofcials in Russia, Nigeria and
Libya in 77 cases during the period from 2001 to 2004 for the purpose of obtaining contracts on behalf of the
Company. In determining the ne, the court based its decision on unlawfully obtained economic benets in the
amount of at least €200 which the court determined the Company had derived from illegal acts of the former
employee, to which an additional ne in the amount of €1 was added. The decision of the Munich district court
and the settlement (tatsächliche Verständigung) entered into the same day with the German tax authorities, and
which was reected in the scal 2007 consolidated nancial statements, concluded the German investigations
into illegal conduct and tax violations only as they relate to Siemens AG and only as to the former Com Group.
The Munich public prosecutor continues to conduct an investigation of certain current and former employees
of the Company on suspicion of criminal breaches of duciary duty including embezzlement, as well as bribery
and tax evasion. The investigation of the Munich public prosecutor extends beyond the former Communications
(Com) group. To date, the Munich public prosecutor has announced that groups under investigation include
Siemens’ former Power Transmission and Distribution (PTD) group, in which a former member of the Managing
Board is a suspect, the former Power Generation (PG) group, the former Medical Solutions (Med) group, the
former Transportation Systems (TS) group and Siemens’ IT Solutions and Services group.
The Munich prosecutor also announced an investigation against the former Chairman of the Supervisory Board,
the former CEO and other former members of the Supervisory Board and of the Managing Board of Siemens AG.
The investigation is based on Section 130 of the German Law on Administrative Offences regarding violations of
the duty to take appropriate supervisory measures required to prevent breaches of criminal and administrative
law.
In addition, there is a signicant number of ongoing investigations into allegations of public corruption involv-
ing the Company, certain of our current and former employees or projects in which the Company is involved in
a number of jurisdictions around the world, including Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, China, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Vietnam and the U.S.
among others. Specic examples include the following:
 As previously reported, there are ongoing investigations in Switzerland, Italy, and Greece into allegations that
certain current and former employees of the former Com Group opened slush fund accounts abroad and oper-
ated a system to misappropriate funds from the Company. The Company has learned that Liechtenstein prose-
cutors have transferred their investigation to Swiss and Munich prosecutors.