Forced to pay 108,000 Euro by German court

A German court has fined a former Siemens executive nearly 108,000 Euro and given him a two-year suspended prison sentence for his role in illegally securing contracts, said reports.

Reinhard Siekaczek admitted to setting up slush funds to help the German electronics and engineering giant win contracts.

At the ruling the judge said Siekaczek had acted at the behest of his superiors, according to the reports.

The investigation is one of several worldwide that are probing activities at Siemens.

In November 2006 the Department of Justice announced that it was investigating Siemens over suspicious payments to win business contracts in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria worth up to €420m.

In January 2007 a fine of 396,562,500 Euro on Siemens constituted the largest ever fine that the European Commission had imposed on a single company for a single cartel infringement.