German electronics giant Siemens is facing additional corruption accusations as part of a major bribery investigation to land business deals in China and Indonesia, the homepage of the weekly Der Spiegel news magazine reported Saturday. According to the report, the Munich-based firm transferred 19.7 million euros via a secret Liechtenstein banking account in connection to a power station in Indonesia. Siemens auditors had tracked down evidence of illegal payments linked to the construction and operation of the 1,200-Megawatt Paiton II station in eastern Java. The deal was worth around 1.2 billion US dollars and was signed during the Indonesia visit of then-chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1995. Siemens officials have repeatedly stated that the contract was obtained legally. Meanwhile the weekly WirtschaftsWoche reported that Siemens company heads in China are essentially operating outside the control of company headquarters in Munich. Firm auditors had also discovered illicit financial activities of Chinese Siemens managers. Siemens has refused to comment, citing the ongoing investigation as reason for its silence. Image source: spiegel.de. > Continue
News selected by Covalence | Country: Indonesia, China | Company: Siemens | Source: Der Spiegel / IRNA
