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US and French authorities have launched preliminary investigations against German industrial group Siemens on suspicion of corruption in the UN's former oil-for-food program in Iraq, a company spokesman confirmed Monday.
"Siemens is cooperating with the authorities from both countries and has made all the necessary documents available," the spokesman told Berlin's daily Der Tagesspiegel in an article to appear Tuesday.
The newspaper said the US Securities and Exchange Commission had requested several documents linked to the company's activities in Iraq while French authorities were looking at "irregularities" in connection with the UN-supervised program, which ran from late 1996 to 2003.
The UN program allowed Saddam Hussein's regime to sell limited amounts of oil to purchase essential goods and alleviate the effects of sanctions on the civilian population.
Prosecutors in the southern German city of Nuremberg opened an investigation against the corporate giant in November on suspicion that executives violated foreign trade laws by paying "hundreds of thousands of euros" in bribes to the Iraqi government to win contracts.
An investigation ordered by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan found in 2005 that more than 2,000 companies from 60 countries had bribed Saddam's government.
Siemens is also facing a spiraling investigation by German prosecutors over alleged embezzlement, bribery and tax evasion.
Some employees are suspected of collaborating in opening slush fund accounts abroad and operating a system to embezzle company money.
- AFP
