Siemens paid 'commission' to get orders

A former Siemens AG manager on trial over alleged corruption and bribery testified yesterday that "commissions" were paid to secure orders.

Reinhard Siekaczek, a former manager at the ICN fixed-line telephone network division, is the first to go on trial over the company's corruption scandal that came to light last year.

Siekaczek, 57, is charged with 58 counts of breach of trust. Prosecutors allege that he set up a complex network of shell corporations that he used to siphon off company money over several years, some of which they contend was used as bribes to help secure contracts abroad.