Siemens ex-CEO put duty first

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Heinrich von Pierer, who prosecutors said on Friday would not face criminal charges in a corruption probe at Germany's Siemens (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), put duty to the company he led for over 12 years above his personal fate.

In a statement when he resigned last year as chairman of one of the world's biggest engineering and electrical groups, he said he hoped his departure would help calm a media storm over mounting allegations of widespread bribery at the group.

"I have always believed that one's duty to the company and its well over 400,000 employees worldwide must take priority over one's own interests," he said.

"A personal responsibility regarding the current investigations was not the basis for my decision."

Prosecutors said they had no evidence that would warrant criminal charges against von Pierer but that he and other former company officials were being investigated for the administrative offence of breaching their corporate supervision duties.

Von Pierer, 67, was for decades one of Europe's most respected industrialists, advising German chancellors and even considered as a candidate for the German presidency while steering Siemens through potentially turbulent times.

A trained lawyer, he spent all but a few years of his working life at Siemens, once a paragon of corporate Germany where many bright young engineers aspired to a job for life.

His accessible manner and calm authority led many at the trains-to-lightbulbs conglomerate to fear the change that would ensue when the much younger Klaus Kleinfeld -- who has also since stepped down -- took over as chief executive in 2005.

But von Pierer's unblemished legacy began to unravel in late 2006 when Munich prosecutors said they had raided Siemens offices as part of an investigation into a suspected bribery ring at the company's telecoms equipment division.