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| Ganswindt was ordered to pay US$250,000 |
A German court dropped its case on Thursday 19th May against the most senior executive to stand trial over the Siemens AG corruption scandal.
Former executive board member Thomas Ganswindt saw his case dropped for insufficient evidence. He had been charged with tax evasion and failure to perform supervisory duty.
Ganswindt denied any wrongdoing, saying, “There have always been suspicions, but during my time at Siemens, I didn't learn about one real and concrete case of bribery.”
His team is at the centre of the scandal regarding the payment of bribes to secure contracts on a global scale.
He was also accused of tax evasion, as the bribes were accounted for as consultancy costs, which were subsequently tax-deductible, according to Lexology.
Ganswindt was, however, ordered to pay US$250,000 as a condition of having the case dropped, AFP reported.
Siemens became embroiled in one of the largest corporate corruption scandals in history. It settled with US and German authorities in 2008, and agreed to pay fines of US$1.6 billion in each country.
Several other comapny executives settled their cases last year. Former chairman and chief executive Heinrich von Pierer settled out of court for €5 million.
Sources: AFP, Lexology, WSJ
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