×
Enjoying ad-free content?
Since July 1, 2024, we have disabled all ads to improve your reading experience.
This commitment costs us $10,000 a month. Your support can help us fill the gap.
Support us
Our journalism is banned in Russia. We need your help to keep providing you with the truth.

Ex-Siemens Director in Graft Trial

MUNICH — Former Siemens management board member Thomas Ganswindt appeared in a Munich court Thursday on charges that he failed to halt bribes paid in Nigeria and Russia.

The Munich Regional Court is scheduled to hear the case against Ganswindt, the first senior executive to go on trial in the scandal. He faces three counts of tax evasion and inadequately supervising a company by failing to halt corrupt payments.

? “We see that attitudes of both prosecutors and companies in handling these issues have changed compared with a decade ago,” Christian Schroeder, criminal law professor at Germany’s Halle University said about the case.

Ganswindt’s attorney, Michael Rosenthal, said he wouldn’t comment before the trial started. Siemens spokesman Jörn Roggenbuck declined to comment.

The Siemens corruption scandal broke in 2006 and led to investigations in at least a dozen countries. Siemens agreed to pay $1.6 billion to settle probes in the United States and Germany in 2008. Probes against other managers are continuing.

Ganswindt headed Siemens’s former communications unit from 2001 to 2004, when he became a member of the company’s central management board. By mid-2003, he had learned on several occasions about corruption allegations at the company, according to the indictment. Had he investigated, he could have uncovered a system of slush funds at Siemens, prosecutors claim.

Since July 2003, about $41.2 million was diverted from Siemens into slush funds that were used to bribe officials in Nigeria and managers of Russian customers, prosecutors said. Ganswindt could have prevented that, prosecutors claim.

Siemens has sued Ganswindt for $6.65 million for failing to halt the corruption.

Ganswindt was also charged with another seven counts of aiding to bribe foreign officials. The court hasn’t yet ruled on whether that part of the charges may go to trial and will handle it separately, court spokeswoman Margarete Noetzel said last month.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more