Europe's largest engineering company Siemens said it agreed to pay total fines and penalties of about 1 billion euros in Germany and the US for its official bribing of several countries including China.

According to a statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission: "Between March 2001 and September 2007 Siemens made a widespread and systematic practice of paying bribes to government officials in several countries to obtain business."

"A total of US$1.4 billion were used to bribe governmental officials in return for business to Siemens around the world, including metro trains and signaling devices in China, high voltage transmission lines and medical devices in the country," said the statement.

For instance, Siemens paid approximately US$22 million to business consultants who used some portion of those funds to bribe officials in connection with seven projects for the construction of metro trains and signaling devices on behalf of government customers in China.

The total value of the projects was over US$1 billion.

The company also paid approximately US$25 million in bribes for high voltage transmission lines in South China. It paid approximately US$14.4 million in bribes for medical equipment in the country.

"Siemens is closing a painful chapter in its history. For Siemens, the corruption cases in Germany and the US are now over," said Gerhard Cromme, chairman of Siemens' supervisory board.

"We regret what happened in the past. But we have learned from it and taken appropriate measures. Siemens is now a stronger company," said Peter Loscher, Siemens' president and CEO.

Dong Zhengwei, a lawyer with Zhong Yin law firm based in Beijing, yesterday prosecuted Siemens' bribery to the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China, saying the company's deeds "are unfair competition and bring bad impact on China's market".

"It also hurt domestic enterprises' business in China," he said.

(China Daily December 19, 2008)