Siemens fraud probe expands

A criminal investigation of Siemens’ telecom business has broadened in terms of the dollar amount involved and the number of arrests made, according to the Wall Street Journal.

On November 15, German police searched 30 Siemens locations as part of a fraud investigation, the company acknowledged. “A still undetermined number of individual acts of fraud are suspected at the company’s fixed networks business,” the company said then. “At issue, according to current information, is an amount in the low double-digit million euro range.”

However, German authorities now say the amount in question is 10 times that estimate: 200 million euros, or about $250 million, the WSJ said.

In addition, German authorities have arrested two more suspects, the WSJ reported, bringing the total number of arrested current or former Siemens employees to six. In its Nov. 15 statement, Siemens indicated a total of six people were suspected.

Siemens offered no further details, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation, but the company said it is cooperating with authorities and is itself a witness.

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