Senior executives of German electronics and engineering group Siemens AG today met with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the bribery scandal at Siemens. At the meeting, CEO Peter Loescher and , CEO and supervisory board chairman Gerhard Cromme were begging the SEC to go easy.

A Siemens spokesman told Reuters that it was "good conversation".

Just how good remains to be seen. There's been speculation that Siemens might have to pay a fine of billions of euro to the SEC which has been conducting a probe into Siemens' dealings because the German company's is listed on the New York stock exchange, putting it right in the SEC's jurisdiction.