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31 Comments
- RAGEdemon, on 09/02/2008, -0/+13Bribery is rampant throughout even the USA. It can be especially visible in government. They call it "Lobbying".
- ronar, on 09/02/2008, -4/+13I don't see a big deal here. Especially in industry this form of 'bribery' to win contracts is standard procedure in most of the world, even in developed countries. And in Asian countries, you can't get any business without offering the other party a small incentive and southern Europe isn't that much different. These government bureaucrats just have no idea how the real world works.
- inactive, on 09/02/2008, -1/+7They made some great phones back in the day. What a shame. German Enron? Maybe not as bad as those guys.
- vandersarJr, on 09/02/2008, -0/+6Siemens is one of the world's biggest companies. But, most of its products aren't marketed to the general public or aren't on the consumer end of the supply chain. So they're a lot like Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Xilinx, etc. People use their products everyday but don't even realize it.
- JanW71, on 09/02/2008, -0/+5Consumer electronics is maybe 4% of Siemens buissness. So no wonder most people only remember those items.
In most buissnesses, it is common practise to hand out some cash here and there to smoothen things up.
You want your shipment through customs in a 3rd world country, give $100 to the customs officer and its cargo number will be put on the list. If you don't, it might take a few years to clear customs and by the time it does clear, half the equipment is "missing"
If you want a visa, a passport, a shipping document, etc, pay the clerc some extra's and it will be done that day, instead of next month.
If you want your company to be considered as one of the remaining 3 compettitors to a multi-million dollar order, smoothen up the dealings with the persons that decide such things. Call it relation-gifts. - deags, on 09/02/2008, -0/+5in America they call its export enhancement. Something like that. When they want to export something they just bribe people. If you were to follow it up you get no where.
- inactive, on 09/02/2008, -0/+4They bribed the judge.
- screenwalker, on 09/02/2008, -0/+3While corruption and bribery is bad for society and business whoever commits it, the trial and court rulings against some Siemens managers do very much smell like a political trial. And Siemens is not alone.
Almost every large infrastructure company in the leading industrialized countries around the world has recently been pulled into court and massively fined by governments. And its those governments that are actually responsible for the true cause of this massive corruption and bribery.
With their uncontrolled pumping of hundred of billions of cash / tax payers money into the most corrupt governments around the world, declared as development or humanitarian aid, but often nothing else than institutionalized corruption, they are setting the precedent that all private companies and particularly infrastructure companies are forced to live with.
So to stop corruption on that enormous scale and for governments to actually regain the credibility to run such trials they must first change their approach in funding the most corrupt entities around the world themselves. Drying out the swamp surrounding recently setup so-called funding agencies and the Mafia-like (power) networks surrounding those, installing real accountability, transparency and actually exercising oversight on these opaque organizations, that today only exist on paper, will be a first step.
It can't be that those who appoint themselves as judges are the worst culprits overall and apply double standards when looking into their own failures. - 120decibel, on 09/02/2008, -1/+3All they did was pay the Italians to get the contract, that was actually good for Siemens and good for their workers....
Not fair in a global perspective but bribery always takes two! - stellamaris, on 09/02/2008, -0/+2My first phone was a Siemens, back when I had Cingular (before the At&t merger). It was and is to this day, the best phone I've ever had. The icons in the contacts were mushrooms and martini glasses! How cool.
Now I have a ***** motorola phone, with the ***** verizon interface that runs about as fast as windows 95. I click on my contacts, and 7 seconds later, they come up. I can't wait to get a new phone next summer. - inactive, on 09/02/2008, -0/+2So much for fair and free trade eh?
- slundal, on 09/02/2008, -0/+1I for one welcome our old mandatory Nazi joke overlords.
- inactive, on 09/02/2008, -0/+1Thanks for reminding that Siemens still does exist.
- Genthree, on 09/02/2008, -0/+1They used concentration camp slave labor during WWII. If you go to Buchenwald, you can still see the Siemen's logo above the ovens.
To be fair though, any corporation this big is going to be somewhat corrupt. It is an inevitability - QubitTarutaru, on 09/03/2008, -0/+1It's not "bribery", it's "lobbying."
- BlacklabelSAR, on 09/02/2008, -0/+1Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a mental disorder characterized by a "pervasive disregard for the law and the rights of others."[1] It is defined by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual: "The essential feature for the diagnosis is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood due to the lack of love and care for the child."[2] Deceit and manipulation are considered essential features of the disorder. Therefore, it is essential in making the diagnosis to collect material from sources other than the individual being diagnosed. Also, the individual must be age 18 or older as well as have a documented history of a conduct disorder before the age of 15.[2] People having antisocial personality disorder are sometimes referred to as "sociopaths" and "psychopaths".[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personalit ... - liuite, on 09/02/2008, -0/+1it's not a bribe, it's influence peddling.
- Phosphan, on 09/02/2008, -0/+1Misleading title, should have used past tense. The laws have changed, and today bribery always means corruption. That is even written in TFA.
- inactive, on 09/02/2008, -0/+0I hear ya.....I remember my first Siemens back in the day had all these amazing features that are standard now, but amazzzing back then. Now I have a ***** Sony Ericson that does everything (Camera,games, web) but let me enter text messages (sms) quickly.
- spezi, on 09/02/2008, -0/+0Are you sure? Why would they be above the ovens? They were made "Topf&Söhne" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topf_and_Sons). Although there might be quite likely technical installations by Siemens.
Probably any major German company at that time made use of slave labour. - HeDiggMe, on 09/02/2008, -1/+1Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance!
- gkiltz, on 09/02/2008, -0/+0This is true not just in Germany, but in countless dozens of countries around the world, in all parts of the world!
Unfortunately, US-based companies are therefore faced with having to break US law to do business there at all! - inactive, on 09/02/2008, -2/+1German nazi jokes are as old as surrendering french jokes, crooked teeth british jokes, pizza making italian jokes, stupid polish jokes, and fat american jokes.
- inactive, on 09/02/2008, -5/+4Woah!
Didn't think Siemens was such a crooked corporation
I truly feel sorry for anyone who has shares in this company, it seems like with all the upcoming court procedings and investigations this is going to turn into the German Enron. Siemens shares as of right now seem to be on a slippery slope, and it'll only get worse as news spreads. SELL NOW!!!
Next time, move your headquarters to Dubai! - inactive, on 09/02/2008, -3/+1echo?
echo?
echo? - inactive, on 09/02/2008, -3/+0The Russians are back stabbers.
- inactive, on 09/02/2008, -5/+1I hope Siemens gets reamed for the remaining improprieties, though. They make some of the most reprehensibly stupid phones ever built. Any company that would churn out such ***** deserves extinction.
- occasus, on 09/02/2008, -6/+1But in Soviet Russia it does.
- inactive, on 09/02/2008, -9/+3No Comments!
It's quiet in here... can you hear the echo? - slundal, on 09/02/2008, -7/+1Cue mandatory Nazi, WW2 joke......
- fxu1989, on 09/02/2008, -9/+3Siemen Siemen Siemen... hmmm.
.....HAHAHA, I can't take this seriously, sorry.
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