Munich court to reach verdict in Siemens trial

A German court is due to announce a verdict on Monday in the trial of a former Siemens manager accused of breach of trust in connection with suspected corruption and bribery at the engineering group.

Reinhard Siekaczek, who has been called "the master of slush funds" by the prosecutor, is likely to receive a fine and a suspended sentence.

Siekaczek, a fomer sales manager at Siemens' telecoms division, has cooperated with the authorities and admitted to building a system of slush funds. He told the court he later tried to stop the systematic bribery but top managers failed to act.

The trial of Siekaczek is the result of a years-long investigation by Munich prosecutors, one of several bodies worldwide that are probing activities at Siemens.

The affair has already cost the jobs of Siemens' ex-Chief Executive Klaus Kleinfeld and ex-CEO and Chairman Heinrich von Pierer, who are not accused of wrongdoing, and has led to an upheaval of corporate culture and structures.

Expectations that the trial might shed light on possible involvement of top management at the time have not been met.

Von Pierer refused to testify in June, invoking his right not to take the stand on the grounds that he could incriminate himself in regard to investigations into his conduct by Munich prosecutors.

Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser, the highest-ranking survivor of a massive bribery scandal, denied all knowledge of slush funds at the company when he was called to testify last month.

Siemens' own and other investigations into a suspected organised bribery system at its former telecoms unit have widened to include Siemens' transportation and power units, among others.

They may also result in Europe's biggest engineering group's being banned from bidding for certain U.S. contracts.

Suspicious payments identified by Siemens already total 1.3 billion euros ($2 billion).