A division of Siemens (NYSE:SI) last week agreed to pay $5.9 million, but admitted no wrongdoing, to settle federal charges that it overbilled the U.S. Defense Dept.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Siemens Medical Solutions USE, the German industrial conglomerate’s U.S. imaging business, overcharged the Defense Dept. and the U.S. Veterans Affairs Dept. between 2002 and 2008.

Siemens allegedly failed to give the best price on some DoD purchases and overcharged the VA for purchases that were converted to newer-model imaging devices, prosecutors claimed.

"Specifically, [Siemens] did not give the DoD the largest discount that a private or commercial customer had received for a ‘like system,’ and, in doing so, overcharged the government. [Siemens] also withheld information about this overcharging and kept money that it was not entitled to retain," they alleged, adding that although the company issued discounts on purchases made after it discovered the overcharging, it kept the extra money from the prior purchases.

Earlier this year Siemens escaped a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that it overcharged the U.S. Veterans Affairs Dept. for ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging devices.