TIMELINE: Siemens battles corruption scandal

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German engineering group Siemens has agreed to pay $800 million to settle a U.S. investigation of allegations it used bribes for years to win contracts.

A U.S. Justice Department official told a court hearing in Washington that Siemens is paying a total of about $1.6 billion to settle U.S. and German cases.

Following is a chronology of the development of corruption investigations involving Siemens:

2006

November 15 - Prosecutors say they raided offices and homes of Siemens staff as part of an investigation into suspected embezzlement. Siemens says the probe concerns six individuals and a sum of money in the low double-digit millions of euros.

November 20 - Prosecutors say they entered Chief Executive Klaus Kleinfeld's offices. He is considered a potential witness, not a suspect.

November 22 - Munich prosecutors say they are investigating the disappearance of about 200 million euros ($269.3 million) from Siemens' accounts.

November 23 - Siemens sets up an anti-corruption task force.

December 11 - Siemens cuts its reported 2005/06 net profit by 73 million euros in light of the affair and hires outsiders to examine its compliance systems and rules.

December 12 - Siemens says it is looking into more than 420 million euros worth of dubious payments. Thomas Ganswindt, who used to run Siemens' telecoms business, is arrested.

December 15 - Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International asks Siemens to leave the organization.

2007

January 3 - A German prosecutor says Siemens is being investigated for possible abuses of the United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq.

January 12 - Munich prosecutors say ex-CFO Heinz-Joachim Neubuerger has been questioned as a suspect in the bribery investigation.

Jan 25 - Chairman Heinrich von Pierer, also a former CEO, withdraws from a Siemens committee examining compliance issues.

Feb 2 - Siemens says the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating possible violations of U.S. law in connection with the corruption affair.

Feb 14 - Siemens says Nuremberg prosecutors have raided its offices in Munich, Erlangen and Nuremberg in connection with alleged suspicious payments.

March 27 - Siemens executive board member Johannes Feldmayer is arrested on charges of breach of trust, accused of making illegal payments to the head of a workers' association, as part of the Nuremberg investigation. He later leaves the company.

April 19 - Von Pierer says he will resign as chairman but denies any personal responsibility for the affair.

April 25 - Siemens names corporate governance expert Gerhard Cromme as chairman. Chief Executive Klaus Kleinfeld announces his resignation although he denies any wrongdoing.

May 14 - Two former managers get suspended sentences for paying illegal bribes to managers at Italian utility Enel to win turbine contracts between 1999 and 2002. May 20 - Siemens names pharmaceuticals industry executive Peter Loescher as new CEO

October 4 - Munich court fines Siemens 201 million euros in the corruption case

2008

January 24 - The annual meeting postpones votes on approving the performance of former executives and von Pierer. Cromme says Siemens to start talks with U.S. markets watchdog SEC

April 23 - Medical technology head Erich Reinhardt resigns after suspect activity emerges in his business

April 30 - Siemens puts the dubious payments at 1.3 billion euros

May 9 - Munich prosecutors say they have found no evidence that would warrant criminal charges against von Pierer but that he and other former company officials are being investigated for the administrative offence of breaching their corporate supervision duties

July 28 - A German court gives a former Siemens executive a fine and two-year suspended sentence for his role in setting up slush funds used to win contracts

July 29 - Siemens says it plans to claim damages from 11 former top managers for failing to stop illegal practices

Nov 5 - Siemens says it will take a charge of around 1 billion euros to cover a deal it is seeking to settle the bribery allegations

Dec 15 - A U.S. federal court accepts the proposed settlement

(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Rupert Winchester)

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