Hans-Joachim Kohlsdorf

Hans-Joachim Kohlsdorf (* 1958 in Guayaquil , Ecuador ) is a German economist and former manager of Siemens in South and Central America. He played a role in the Siemens corruption affair that became known in 2006.

Life

Hans-Joachim Kohlsdorf studied economics at the Universidad de los Andes and the Advanced Administration Program at Harvard .

Kohlsdorf worked in the energy sector for over 15 years. From 1988 he worked for Siemens' Colombian subsidiary in Bogota . From 2003 to 2009 he was CEO of Siemens Mesoamerica, based in Mexico City . He was Commercial Vice President of Siemens Bogota, President / CEO of Siemens Mesoamérica and President of the Association of Multinational Companies in Mexico.

He is currently a member of the board of directors of Americas, Tecnolite, ADO and IEC Holden.

Black coffers

Hans-Joachim Kohlsdorf worked for Siemens in Latin America for a long time, and during this time he helped to run black coffers for Siemens. According to research by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Kohlsdorf had cooperated with the authorities in uncovering the bribery scandal in 2006. In return, he was given a quasi clean bill of health by them. He had to pay a fine of 40,000 euros and remained unpunished, according to the "SZ".

In 2007 Mossack Fonseca opened the letterbox company "Gillard" for Kohlsdorf. Many millions of dollars were moved through their accounts. According to the Süddeutscher Zeitung, Kohlsdorf does not want to have known this company. The information from the Panama Papers indicates that not all of the assets in the company's account have been repaid to Siemens. As of June 30, 2008, only $ 4.1 million of funds totaling $ 6.14 million had been returned to the company.

According to the research, Kohlsdorf is said to have made investments with the remaining two million USD . The money was stashed in another account, and then transferred to a Swiss UBS account in 2012 . Officially, the account should belong to an employee of the Swiss bank. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that it had received information from insider circles that this Swiss account should belong to Hans-Joachim Kohlsdorf himself. In this case, it is suspected that the letterbox company founded had served to keep the funds secretly until the investigation against the Siemens manager in the case in Europe is closed.

In November 2013, Kohlsdorf opened an account at a local Société Générale office in the Bahamas through the law firm Mossack Fonseca . There he invested 375,077.83 ounces of gold worth approximately $ 480 million. This became known through the publication of the Panama Papers . Kohlsdorf and other Siemens managers involved diverted funds, which had previously been bunkered in black coffers, to their private accounts after they became known ( Siemens scandals ). Not all funds were returned to Siemens. The documents suggest that Kohlsdorf could have enriched himself on the black accounts. Siemens then filed a criminal complaint against Kohlsdorf.

In this context, the police searched Commerzbank branches in Frankfurt and Hamburg on behalf of the Munich I public prosecutor's office in October 2017 . Two million euros were also confiscated, which the former Siemens manager is said to have embezzled.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer, Jan Strozyk: Goldener Schein. Süddeutsche Zeitung . Retrieved November 17, 2017.
2. ^ ^{A b} Süddeutsche Zeitung: Panama Papers: New details on the Siemens affair . In: Süddeutsche.de . ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on October 10, 2017]).
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Vogel Business Media GmbH & Co. KG: Siemens managers are said to have moved black money through letterbox companies . ( vogel.de [accessed on October 11, 2017]).
4. ↑ ^{a b c} M_Adnan: Hans-Joachim Kohlsdorf |. Retrieved October 10, 2017 (American English). 
5. ↑ Siemens: Panama leaks open old wounds at Siemens - manager magazin . In: manager magazin . ( manager-magazin.de [accessed on October 11, 2017]).
6. ↑ ^{a b} tagesschau.de: Panama Papers: First searches in Germany. Retrieved October 10, 2017 .