German justice officials said Monday they were extending a probe into corruption at the engineering giant Siemens to the division that includes electricity distribution. "We are expanding the investigation to PTD and to Uriel Sharef," a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in southern Munich told AFP, in reference to the divison and its former director.
The office refused to comment further or say what had motivated an extension of the enquiry, which had focused on Siemens telecommunications unit until now. The spokesman also declined to confirm press reports earlier Monday which said the influential former head of Siemens, Heinrich von Pierer, might also become a focus for investigators.
Siemens, already the subject of massive corruption allegations, also had murky links with Germany's secret services over a period of several decades, a magazine report said on Monday. The industrial and electronics conglomerate supplied the secret services, known as the BND, with spying equipment, and former board member Volker Jung was the BND's point man with the firm, Spiegel magazine alleged.
Siemens sold bugging equipment around the world including to Russia, Egypt and Oman and was able to listen in on traffic on countries' telephone exchanges - something that was potentially useful for the BND, Spiegel said. The firm also sent engineers to places where secret services have no access, for example in Iran, the magazine said.
Other media reports had alleged that corruption may have been even more endemic within Siemens than thought and that investigations appeared to be inching closer to implicating von Pierer. The daily Handelsblatt had reported that officials were now looking into possible corruption at the electricity distribution division and were interested in Sharef as well.
Until now, the dogged scandal has focused on Siemens' telecommunications unit, which is suspected of paying bribes to obtain lucrative overseas contracts. According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Siemens could demand millions of euros (dollars) in damages and interest from von Pierer, who was chief executive and later chairman of the supervisory board.
The newspaper quoted documents it said showed that von Pierer, who has not been the subject of an investigation so far, was informed of corrupt practices but did not act upon the information.
Board member Peter Solmssen was also quoted by the daily Der Tagesspiegel as saying the group might sue former board members for compensation. "One thing is for sure: where there could be damage claims, we will forcefully pursue them," Solmssen said.