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CRIME

Former Siemens chief will not face corruption charges

Heinrich von Pierer, former Siemens chief and supervisory board president, will not face penal charges in connection with a vast corruption scandal at the German engineering giant, prosecutors in southern Munich said in a statement on Friday.

Published: 9 May 2008 14:16 CEST
Former Siemens chief will not face corruption charges
Von Pierer on the phone in Berlin in 2006. Photo: DPA

The statement said prosecutors did not have evidence to justify penal charges against the former head of Siemens, which is being probed for business practices that allegedly involved paying bribes to obtain foreign contracts.

Von Pierer could however be called to answer in a procedure that would not result in a trial or prison sentence.

If found to have failed in his duties, he might have to pay a fine.

An internal Siemens probe has found that almost all its sectors of activity were subject to active corruption, the group said on April 29.

The international law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton “has found evidence in each of the examined groups and in various countries indicating that domestic as well as foreign compliance regulations have been violated,” it said.

“The violations in question reflect not only outright incidents of corruption, but, in many cases, violations of regulations pertaining to internal controls,” the enquiry found.

Siemens employs about 400,000 people around the world and makes a broad range of products including household appliances, medical equipment, trains, turbines and power stations.

Von Pierer ran the group for 13 years before he became supervisory board president in 2005.

Siemens has acknowledged the existence of special funds worth €1.3 billion ($2 billion) used to obtain foreign contracts and agreed in October to pay a fine of €201 million to put an end to some German legal proceedings.

A separate investigation is being carried out by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because Siemens shares are traded in New York.

A report last month in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said German prosecutors were investigating 270 suspects as the corruption probe took on a fully international dimension.

The newspaper said that overseas business figures had allegedly colluded with Siemens to deposit large cash floats in Switzerland, Dubai and other financial havens for use as hidden sweetener payments to secure large foreign contracts.

A Siemens executive has alleged to prosecutors that von Pierer ordered him and a colleague in 2002 and 2003 to make suspicious payments of about $10 million in connection with a large order from the Argentine government.

CRIME

Nine face trial in Germany for alleged far-right coup plot

The first members of a far-right group that allegedly plotted to attack the German parliament and overthrow the government will go on trial in Stuttgart on Monday.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:32 CEST
Nine face trial in Germany for alleged far-right coup plot

Nine suspected participants in the coup plot will take the stand in the first set of proceedings to open in the sprawling court case, split among three courts in three cities.

The suspects are accused of having participated in the “military arm” of the organisation led by the minor aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss.

The alleged plot is the most high-profile recent case of far-right violence, which officials say has grown to become the biggest extremist threat in Germany.

The organisation led by Reuss was an eclectic mix of characters and included, among others, a former special forces soldier, a former far-right MP, an astrologer, and a well-known chef.

Reuss, along with other suspected senior members of the group, will face trial in the second of the three cases, in Frankfurt in late May.

The group aimed to install him as head of state after its planned takeover.

Heinrich XIII arrested at his home following a raid in 2022.

Heinrich XIII arrested at his home following a raid in 2022. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Boris Roessler

The alleged plotters espoused a mix of “conspiracy myths” drawn from the global QAnon movement and the German Reichsbûrger (Citizens of the Reich) scene, according to prosecutors.

The Reichsbürger movement includes right-wing extremists and gun enthusiasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.

Its followers generally believe in the continued existence of the pre-World War I German Reich, or empire, under a monarchy, and several groups have declared their own states.

Such Reichsbürger groups were driven by “hatred of our democracy”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in Berlin on Sunday.

“We will continue our tough approach until we have fully exposed and dismantled militant ‘Reichsbürger’ structures,” she added.

READ ALSO: Who was involved in the alleged plot to overthrow German democracy?

‘Treasonous undertaking’

According to investigators, Reuss’s group shared a belief that Germany was run by members of a “deep state” and that the country could be liberated with the help of a secret international alliance.

The nine men to stand trial in Stuttgart are accused by prosecutors of preparing a “treasonous undertaking” as part of the Reichsbürger plot.

As part of the group, they are alleged to have aimed to “forcibly eliminate the existing state order” and replace it with their own institutions.

The members of the military arm were tasked with establishing, supplying and recruiting new members for “territorial defence companies”, according to prosecutors.

Among the accused are a special forces soldier, identified only as Andreas M. in line with privacy laws, who is said to have used his access to scout out army barracks.

Others were allegedly responsible for the group’s IT systems or were tasked with liaising with the fictitious underground “alliance”, which they thought would rally to the plotters’ aid when the coup was launched.

The nine include Alexander Q., who is accused by federal prosecutors of acting as the group’s propagandist, spreading conspiracy theories via the Telegram messaging app.

Two of the defendants, Markus L. and Ralf S., are accused of weapons offences in addition to the charge of treason.

Markus L. is also accused of attempted murder for allegedly turning an assault rifle on police and injuring two officers during a raid at his address in March 2023.

Police swooped in to arrest most of the group in raids across Germany in December 2022 and the charges were brought at the end of last year.

Three-part trial 

Proceedings in Stuttgart are set to continue until early 2025.

In all, 26 people are accused in the huge case against the extremist network, with trials also set to open in Munich and Frankfurt.

Reuss will stand trial in Frankfurt from May 21st, alongside another ringleader, an ex-army officer identified as Ruediger v.P., and a former MP for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann.

The Reichsbürger group had allegedly organised a “council” to take charge after their planned putsch, with officials warning preparations were at an advanced stage.

The alleged plotters had resources amounting to 500,000 euros ($536,000) and a “massive arsenal of weapons”, according to federal prosecutors.

Long dismissed as malcontents and oddballs, believers in Reichsbuerger-type conspiracies have become increasingly radicalised in recent years and are seen as a growing security threat.

Earlier this month, police charged a new suspect in relation to another coup plot.

The plotters, frustrated with pandemic-era restrictions, planned to kidnap the German health minister, according to investigators.

Five other suspected co-conspirators in that plot went on trial in Koblenz last May.

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