Israel's securities regulator said Tuesday that authorities have arrested six current and former executives from Israel's electric company on suspicion of accepting $20 million in bribes from German engineering firm Siemens AG.
The Israel Securities Authority alleges Siemens and its Israeli subsidiary bribed the Israel Electric Corp. executives from 2000-2005 to win the Israeli company's tender for a power station turbine project. It said the bribes were part of a worldwide bribery scandal in which Siemens agreed to pay more than $1.3 million in fines.
Siemens spokesman Wolfram Trost said that "as a matter of principle Siemens doesn't comment on ongoing investigations or on speculation."
Last year, a former Israeli electric company director was sentenced to six years imprisonment as part of the affair.
The Israel Electric Corp. said it would cooperate with the investigation.
