Siemens graft claim resurfaces
German engineering giant Siemens paid bribes to officials at the Greek Interior and Defense ministries in connection to a contract it won for the Athens Olympics, the German weekly Der Spiegel said on Saturday. The report said that a manager of the group, which is currently being probed for corruption, had told prosecutors in Munich that a former Siemens official in Greece had received up to 10 percent of the company’s revenues in that country to use for bribes. Prosecutors in the Siemens probe are investigating the suspected existence of overseas slush funds containing about 200 million euros, allegedly used to pay bribes to obtain big contracts. A total of seven current and former Siemens employees have so far been arrested in the investigation and six are still in custody. The Siemens contract for the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 involved a security system. Slush funds were reportedly held in Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein and beneficiaries allegedly included the regime of late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha. (AFP)
