"At Siemens, Bribery Was Just a Line Item "

The New York Times recently ran an article discussing the global bribery case of German- based corporate giant Siemens AG. The breadth and depth of the bribery is astounding:

"....In Argentina, a different Siemens subsidiary paid at least $40 million in bribes to win a $1 billion contract to produce national identity cards. In Israel, the company provided $20 million to senior government officials to build power plants. In Venezuela, it was $16 million for urban rail lines. In China, $14 million for medical equipment. And in Iraq, $1.7 million to Saddam Hussein and his cronies...."

More astounding is how bribery is seen as commonplace for doing business globally:

"For his part, Mr. Siekaczek is uncertain about the impact of the Siemens case. After all, he said, bribery and corruption are still widespread.

“People will only say about Siemens that they were unlucky and that they broke the 11th Commandment,” he said. “The 11th Commandment is: ‘Don’t get caught.’ ” "

According to the article byline: "This article is a joint report by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, PBS’s "Frontline" and The New York Times. A related documentary will be broadcast on “Frontline” on April 7."