Two ex-Siemens managers to stand trial in corruption case

Two former managers at Siemens AG will have to stand trial over allegations of breach of trust and aiding bribery, as part of an investigation into a corporate scandal at Europe's biggest engineering company.

The trial will start on April 12, the Munich Regional Court said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The men, identified only as Hans-Werner H., 55, and Joerg Michael K., 55, senior managers at Siemens's former telecommunications unit at the time, allowed a system of slush funds and sham contracts concealing bribes, according to the indictment.

The money was used to bribe officials in Nigeria and customer representatives in Russia, prosecutors claim, according to the indictment. K., who joined Siemens in 1974, was chief executive of the telecommunications unit. H., at Siemens since 1978, was its head of accounting and audit.

K.'s attorney Leonard Walischewski and H.'s lawyer Steffen Ufer didn't return calls seeking comment.