Siemens over the weekend pointed another finger at its former chairman and CEO, Heinrich von Pierer, as the massive engineering and automation company continues an internal probe of corporate wrongdoing while facing a series of international bribery charges.
In the latest salvo, Siemens raised suspicions about von Pierer in his former role as chairman of Siemens’ supervisory board, an independent group that oversees the company’s management. The allegations differ from those Siemens raised two months ago against von Pierer in his capacity as CEO, a job he held from 1992 until 2005.
In both instances, the suspicions — which Siemens has not yet pursued as formal charges or lawsuits — question von Pierer’s role in the bribes-for-contracts scandal that has so far cost Siemens € 1.4 billion.
Late on Friday, Siemens’ managing board released a statement alleging that von Pierer, while serving as chairman of Siemens’ supervisory board from 2005 through 2007, withheld information from that board about the company’s compliance practices. The statement also implicates Karl-Hermann Baumann, who preceded von Pierer as supervisory board chairman from 1998 to 2005.