The 12th anniversary of the cause which is investigating the alleged payment of bribes by the Siemens company to members of the government of Carlos Menem for the renewal of the DNI prepares alarming news for former staff and former directors of the company. Everything depends on the arrival of court papers that prosecutors sent from Munich, who took the case of the parent company in Germany that he is now stuck for months in the diplomatic tangle involving international paperwork.


The federal judge overseeing the case since 2008, Ariel Lijo, has already sent two letters to Foreign Ministry, claiming diplomatic pressure to the Federal Government of Germany to hand over the documents provided by prosecutors in Munich, after the trip to that city magistrate May. There he and his team had access to much of the evidence and records used during the trial that took place against the former directors of the parent.


Beyond the diplomatic wrongs in the court are optimistic: As soon reach such documentation, enjoin the action on "outpatient status" of some of the accused. That is likely to prevent the departure of the former directors and officers more complicated in the case.


Key contract


The documentation of Germany will provide a key to the research: a contract that Charles Sergi, former manager of Siemens Argentina, have signed early 2001 outside the country with the parent to "manage" that fulfill the agreement between Argentina and the company for the digitization of the DNI. Former director by then no longer on the board of the local subsidiary. Months later, in May 2001, the government of Fernando de la Rúa took the low bid. Considering that the efforts had failed Sergi, Siemens AG would have refused to pay some $ s 35 million that had been agreed for their services. The former manager sued the company in Germany which, through arbitration, finally paid some $ s 26 billion.


This amount was paid by Siemens Business Service, a firm that former heads of the parent would have created in Dubai. The investigation by prosecutors in Munich, which indicted several former executives of Siemens AG for paying bribes to win tenders abroad, was based solely on irregular payments the company made from Dubai. One of the allegedly illegal contracts that were included in the investigation of lateral way was to Sergi.


The rest of the documentation on the Argentine case, there is little or nothing in the prosecution of Munich. This is because most of the payments related to the digitization of national ID cards were processed through another group subsidiary, Siemens Nixdorf Information (which later ceased to exist), who was not part of the German investigation. Moreover, the contract was signed with Argentina in 1998 and the Munich prosecutor's office began investigating after 2001, as he felt that the previous cases were prescribed.


Banks

The other key information you expect the court to move forward is the data that should provide several banks on about 40 accounts that were deposited in irregular payments. This documentation was provided by Siemens Argentina itself, after the results were known of the audit of Debevoise & Plimpton, which were based on the Securities Exchange Commission and the Ministry of Justice of the United States to fine Siemens, thus enabling maintain its investments in that country. The group recognized the crimes identified in this audit, for which he paid u $ s 800 million fine.

In the case of Argentina recognized the crime of "Books & Records", irregularities in their seats. The hypothesis is that the court handles these irregularities would have funneled bribes to former officials and former officials of the local subsidiary.

So half of this year Lijo rogatory sent to branches of several banks in tax havens such as Dubai, Panama, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay, to report on the deposits investigated, especially who were their owners. This could close the circle of payment from the company and former officials charged.