Corruption scandal at Siemens deepens with new suspicious payments uncovered

Mumbai: German engineering giant, Siemens, rocked by criminal and internal investigations into suspected organised bribery disguised as payments to business consultants, announced last month it was extending its own investigation into the matter.

Now, internal investigators at the company have uncovered over €1 billion ($1.4 billion) of dubious payments at Siemens' telecoms and turbines divisions, some dating as far back as the early 1990s. Almost €900 million euros worth of such payments have been uncovered at the telecoms unit alone. This could potentially snowball into Europe's largest corruption scandal.

The company is now apparently reviewing more business consultant agreement payments than before, and is looking at similar payments at its turbines, power distribution, transport, medical and industrial services units. Previously, Siemens had announced its investigations into some €420 million euros spent on bribes to win telecoms equipment contracts.

The scandal around these investigations had forced the resignation of Siemens' chairman and chief executive earlier this year.

According to the latest information about the corruption scandal, which has been plaguing the German company, its power plant division too was paying bribes. The Hotel Michelangelo on Via Scarlatti in Milan, one valued mostly for its inconspicuousness and unimaginative functionality, was the ostensible setting for a meeting on Jan. 15, 2000 between two managers from Enel, the Italian energy provider, and two business partners from the Siemens.