The county court of Munich has sentenced former Siemens manager Reinhard Siekaczek to two years on probation and a fine of €108,000. Siekaczek got away cheap, considering the prosecution demanded he be fined €180,000.

Siekaczek was found guilty of diverting around €50 million to secret slush accounts in 49 cases. Siekaczek had confessed to his wrong-doings right from the start. The former Siemens bigwig is also a key figure in uncovering the antics surrounding the €1,3 billion slush money which were transferred to secret accounts. He was arrested end of 2006 and cooperated to the fullest with state prosecutors. The slush funds were operated with knowledge of Siemens corporate executive committee. Executive witnesses refrained from making any statements during Siekaczek's trial.

Siemens' supervisory board is going to decide tomorrow if they are going to push charges against former executives, which would face possible fines of several million Euros. German news magazine Der Spiegel cited a lawyer of a former unrepentant member of the corporate executive committee with the words 'if they want a war, then they can have one,' meaning any lawsuits will get very dirty very quickly. More on this here. X