November 19, 2007 By Robert Amsterdam

Russia Takes Second Place in the Siemens Bribery Scandal

It’s not a very good week for German corporate social responsibility, as the Nigerian government has opened up a probe into an alleged 12 billion euros in bribes handed out by the industrial conglomerate Siemens to officials in Nigeria, Libya, and Russia. However the corrupt bureaucrats of the Kremlin must have been disappointed to learn how much more their African counterparts were able to squeeze out of the Germans – apparently officials from Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration were responsible for taking the majority of the bribes: “That made Nigeria a clear gold medallist in this Siemens bribery contest, with Russia a distant second with only 2 million euros shared by 38 people.” According to a new WSJ report, Siemens paid bribes to officials in Nigeria and two other countries between 2001 and 2004 to help snag huge telecom equipment contracts. The Oct. 4 ruling names four former Nigerian telecommunications ministers, as well as other officials in Nigeria, Libya and Russia as recipients of 77 bribes totaling €12 million, or about $17.5 million. After the cut are the names of the Russian officials and amounts paid by the mysterious Siemens employee named “Mennenga.” Anybody out there know who this is?