Siemens Suspends Employee After Searches

Siemens AG said Thursday it suspended another employee after the Munich Office of Public Prosecution conducted another search, at the beginning of the week, in conjunction with the "known irregularities at the Communications Group (Com)."

Two arrest warrants were issued in connection with the investigation. Siemens said it is cooperating with the public prosecutor's office and has provided all necessary documents.

On Wednesday, Siemens announced that Johannes Feldmayer, head of Siemens' Information Technology Solutions and Services Div., had requested to be released from his duties and responsibilities "to allow for his current personal circumstances," in connection with the Nuremburg Office of Public Prosecution's ongoing investigations, and that his request had been met.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Feldmayer, who also oversees Siemens' real-estate holdings and corporate information office, was detained as prosecutors searched company offices in Munich, where Siemens is based, and two other German cities. A member of the Siemens management board, Feldmayer is the most senior executive to be arrested in recent investigations into Siemens, the article said. The arrest was reportedly related to a contract Siemens signed in 2001 with the head of a workers’ organization; prosecutors are investigating whether it involved illicit payments.

Feldmayer is the second-highest-paid member of the board of Siemens, after the chief executive, Klaus Kleinfeld. In fiscal 2006, he earned 2.6 million euros ($3.47 million). The Times said the case involving Feldmayer is not related to the broader investigation of corruption in the Siemens communications division or a bribery trial under way in Darmstadt, in southwestern Germany, involving two former Siemens managers.
(See also: Siemens German Offices Raided in Fraud Probe)

For more information, visit: www.siemens.com