Chinese judicial authorities have opened an inquiry into suspected corruption at Siemens, the embattled German engineering conglomerate, the company confirmed on 4 September 2007.
One Siemens employee was questioned and subsequently released, the company said, confirming earlier reporting by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. A hospital worker in Songyuan, a city in northeastern China, was separately detained in connection with the purchase of equipment made by the German firm.
Roughly 20 employees at the company's Chinese subsidiary were dismissed the previous week over corruption suspicions. The unit's local head, Richard Hausmann, described the conduct as "unacceptable."
The China matter is among roughly a dozen bribery and anti-trust investigations Siemens faces globally. The conglomerate has acknowledged questionable payments totaling around 420 million euros (about $570 million) worldwide, though German press reports suggest the actual figure could approach one billion euros.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in September 2007, in its own words.