German industrial and engineering giant Siemens AG has pleaded guilty to corruption charges in the United States and agreed to pay €1 billion in fines to settle criminal and civil actions there and in Germany.
The agreements come about six weeks after Siemens set aside €1 billion in anticipation of the settlements, which mark the latest payments in a two-year international saga in which authorities in several countries have charged Siemens with paying bribes for contracts. Siemens took the €1 billion charge against its fourth quarter ended Sept. 30, 2008.
With the U.S. and German settlements announced late Monday, Siemens will have paid a total of €2.5 billion in fines and professional fees to resolve the charges in those geographies and elsewhere, a company spokesman told Managing Automation. About €1.6 billion of that is in fines.
Payments in the United States include $450 million (about €350 million) in fines levied by U.S. federal court against Siemens “for knowingly circumventing and failing to maintain adequate internal controls and failing to comply with the books and records provisions of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA),” Siemens said in a statement. “In related cases, three Siemens foreign subsidiaries [Siemens Venezuela, Siemens Argentina, and Siemens Bangladesh] pled guilty to individual counts of conspiracy to violate the FCPA,” the company stated.