A former Siemens AG manager was convicted of corruption Monday and sentenced by a Munich state court to two years probation and a euro108,000 ($170,000) fine.

Reinhard Siekaczek, 57, was convicted of breach of trust for his role in a corruption scandal at the industrial conglomerate. He admitted to setting up slush funds while a manager at the ICN fixed-line telephone network division.

Prosecutors said Siekaczek set up a complex network of shell corporations to siphon off company money over several years. They said the money was used as bribes to help secure contracts abroad by paying off would-be suppliers, government officials and potential customers.

Siekaczek testified that his superiors had told him to create a new payment system after paying bribes abroad became a criminal offense in Germany in the late 1990s. He said judicial authorities had been on the trail of a previously established system of accounts in Austria.

“Naturally it was known to me and everyone that we pay commissions to secure orders,” he testified, adding that they had been handled “very discreetly” within a small circle of people.

Siemens has acknowledged dubious payments of up to euro1.3 billion ($2 billion) in a wider corruption case uncovered last year.

Siemens, which makes everything from wind turbines to trams, agreed in October to pay a euro201 million ($316.25 million) fine to end some legal proceedings in Germany related to the investigation.

An investigation commissioned by Siemens has found evidence of violations across the company and in several countries.

Siemens shares were down 1.36 percent to euro72.54 ($114.13) in morning trading in Frankfurt.

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