Biz People: New Siemens boss denies reshuffle

Scandal-battered Siemens' new chairman denied reports he was planning changes to the company's management structure and said names floated as candidates for chief executive had been plucked out of thin air.

"In the past days there have been many media reports concerning personnel and structural questions at our company," Gerhard Cromme (right) said in a letter to Siemens' supervisory board seen by Reuters.

"These reports in no way represent the facts," said Cromme, who became chairman of the German conglomerate less than three weeks ago after bribery investigations forced the resignation of former chairman Heinrich von Pierer.

German media reports have said Cromme plans to radically reduce the size of Siemens's 10-man central management board after the resignation of former Chief Executive Klaus Kleinfeld, citing concerns more top managers could be drawn into the probes.

(China Daily 05/09/2007 page16)