Siemens' efforts to extricate itself from this bribery mess is going nowhere fast.
Daniel Noa, the man who was put in charge of investigating the scandal only six months ago has quit, after running into heavy internal resistance, reports the Financial Times.
"There are still a lot of people at Siemens who are saying: 'stop hurting us with the investigations, we have a business to run'," one manager told the FT. Another said: "There is a lot of resistance internally still."
According to the FT, there was infighting between Noa and the legal department to which he had to report. Noa had proposed he should report to the management board as he did not trust the legal department.
Noa's sudden resignation raises some big questions about how much progress Siemens is making dealing with its misdeeds. The congolomerate is under investigations in several countries, including the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
His departure coincides with the arrival of the new Siemens chief executive officer Peter Löscher who, as The Wall Street Journal says, has his hands full dealing with the criminal probe and at the same time accelerating the company's restructuring.
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