
German engineering titan Siemens (NYSE:SI) is under investigation for payments made to employees of a Russian company, according to the company’s latest earning report.
Siemens, which in 2008 paid $1.6 billion to settle an international bribery scheme, received notice from German regulators that a "foreign authority" was looking into a Siemens subsidiary in northwestern Europe.
The investigation relates to alleged payments that the unnamed subsidiary made to employees of a Russian company between 1999 and 2006, according to the report.
The news was 1st reported by the Wall Street Journal’s "Corruption Currents" blog, which noted that the 2008 bribery charge had included alleged bribes to officials at Russian state-owned hospitals.
"Siemens is cooperating with the authorities," according to the company’s report.
The release also noted another investigation, this one launched by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
The office served a subpoena to Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics in February for information relating to an unidentified process.
In an interview this week with NPR, Siemens managing board member and general counsel Peter Solmssen reflected on the company’s checkered past and the work done to ensure that bribery is no longer part of the culture.
"It was largely a failure of leadership. It seems employees believed that they had to pay bribes in order to get business," Solmssen told the radio network. "The question is: What do you do about it? You try to prevent it through training, through controls. You try to detect it through hotlines, through amnesty programs. And then when you find it, you have to respond promptly and thoroughly. It’s an ongoing process."
Siemens did not immediate return requests for comment.