Siemens posted its first quarterly loss since 2001 as it raised to 1.3 billion euros ($1.91 billion) the amount involved in questionable payments that have triggered several corruption investigations, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said the company, which makes everything from trams to turbines to telecommunications equipment, lost 155 million euros ($227.3 million) in the quarter, compared with a profit of 90 million euros a year earlier. It cited costs related to the sale of its automotive electronics unit and fines from the bribery and corruption investigations.
Siemens took the rare step of issuing a detailed, 11-page document outlining the numerous investigations that swirled around it since last year, and said it had found 'an additional 857 million euros ($1.26 billion) in questionable payments from 2000-2006,' on top of the 449 million euros ($661 million) already disclosed, the report said.
The report also quoted new CEO Peter Loescher as saying that some 500 workers so far have had to leave the company for disciplinary reasons, including corruption and breach of trust allegations.
Since he took over in July, he has moved to improve transparency at the company, helping oversee an internal investigation and cooperating with investigators from several countries, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the report said.