Saturday November 17, 06:39 PM
Nigerians, Russians and Libyans took Siemens bribes: WSJ
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - German telecommunications giant Siemens AG (Xetra: 723610 - news) paid about 17.5 million dollars (12 million euros) in bribes to government and industry officials in Nigeria, Russia and Libya in a bid to win contracts.
Using documents released last month by a court in Munich, The Wall Street Journal Europe reported on its website Saturday and published a list of alleged recipients of 77 bribes from the three countries, detailing how much money went to each of the officials.
Earlier this month Siemens admitted 1.3 billion euros (one billion dollars) in dubious transactions, showing the extent of a corruption scandal that has engulfed the company.
The revelation came as a surprise as Siemens had previously only admitted a slush fund of 449 million euros and had said it was limited to its telecommunications division.
It said on November (Frankfurt: A0S9N7 - news) 8 it had uncovered an additional 857 million euros in money believed to have been used to obtain contracts for the group and the list of countries where it is now investigating possible corruption includes China, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Norway and Russia.
Siemens' new chief executive, Peter Loescher, who took over the reins in July, said the internal investigation into the corruption was "largely completed," suggesting that the company now believed it had discovered the full extent of the slush funds.
Loescher said he hoped a fine of 201 million euros imposed by German authorities in October would help it draw a line under the affair in its home country.
The court document seen by The Journal indicated that about 10 million euros went to Nigerians, including an immigration official, a senator and four former telecommunications ministers: Bello Mohammed, Tajudeen Olanrewaju, Cornelius Adebayo and Alhaji Elewi, the WSJ report said.
It said that in Russia, 38 bribes totaling about two million euros went to the heads of nearly two dozen regional state-controlled telephone companies in the east and west of the country.
Six bribes totaling about 300,000 euros were received by two officials at Libya's state-run General Post and Telecommunications Co., the paper said.
The full list of bribe recipients can be viewed at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119516043538094610.html?mod=hps_europe_whats_news.
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