1. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is competent for investigating cases of fraud and irregularities concerning the EU budget. To that end, OLAF acts in close cooperation with the relevant national authorities.

As already explained in its reply to Written Question E‑4679/07 by Mr Bösch, a criminal investigation is currently ongoing at the Wuppertal Public prosecutor’s office relating to Siemens. Therefore, neither the Commission nor OLAF can add anything to the previous reply nor can they comment on the existence or otherwise of other contracts being affected by the investigation.

2. When/if it is aware of a final judicial decision against a candidate or tenderer in a corruption case, the Commission would apply Article 93, paragraph 1b of the Financial Regulation pursuant to which: ‘candidates or tenderers shall be excluded from participation in a procurement procedure […] if they have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata(1).’ In the case of ongoing investigations, the Commission would ‘flag’ the entity in its Early Warning System and take particular care in the event of an investigated organisation tendering or applying for a grant.

3 , 4 and 5. The Honourable Member will find annexed a list of ongoing contracts signed between Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (DE), and the Commission. The contracts have not been broken down per country as they have all been signed by the abovementioned company, based in Germany, and the Commission. The annex is sent directly to the Honourable Member and to the Secretariat of Parliament. The list does not include contracts with other entities of the Siemens group or not managed directly by the Commission.

(1) For the Honourable Member's information, under Article 95 of the Financial Regulation, a central database shall be set up and operated by the Commission in compliance with Community rules on the protection of personal data. The database shall contain details of candidates and tenders which are in one of the situations referred to in Article 93 […]. The database will be operational as of 1 January 2009.