Business News
Former top German business executive fined in bribery case
Oct 28, 2009, 10:08 GMT
Munich - Former chief executive of German chipmaker Infineon, Ulrich Schumacher, was Wednesday fined 200,000 euros (300,000 dollars) in a court ruling to drop a case of alleged bribery against him.
Schumacher was ordered by the Munich court to pay half the money to the state and the other half to charitable organisations.
Presiding judge Peter Noll explained the decision, saying that allegations of bribery could not be upheld in the case. There did remain a charge of tax evasion, for which Schumacher received the fine.
The development came after both defence and prosecution lawyers last week had said it was likely the case would be dropped due to insufficient evidence.
Schumacher formerly ran Infineon, a major manufacturer of semiconductor chips. He is accused of accepting large sums of 'sponsorship' money from 2000 to 2003 to drive in privately arranged motor-racing events.
He was charged with eight counts each of corruption in business dealings and tax evasion as well as a single count each of misappropriation and attempted fraud.
In an earlier statement to the court, he said his 'most stupid mistake' had been to mix his hobby of racing with his duties as an executive.
Schumacher was once seen as a star German executive. He attracted attention to Infineon's initial public offering in 2000 by driving a racing car down Wall Street in New York.
He left the company five years ago and now runs Chinese-owned Grace Semiconductor.
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