Siemens to pay Israel $43 mln to settle bribery case - Israel

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Siemens AG will pay Israel 160 million shekels ($43 million) to settle a decade-old corruption case in which the German group was accused of bribing executives at a state-owned utility to win contracts, Israeli authorities said on Monday. The settlement was announced by Israel's Justice Ministry, which has been investigating whether Siemens paid millions of dollars in bribes to officials at Israel Electric Corp (IEC) to win contracts from 1999 to 2005. "We are pleased that the Israeli State Authorities chose to have an arrangement that does not include an indictment against Siemens AG recognising....that Siemens fully cooperated in the course of the investigation," Siemens said in an e-mailed statement. It said it planned to continue its business in Israel on a significant scale, including purchasing Israeli products and services and investing in Israeli companies. ($1 = 3.7450 shekels) (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Joern Poltz in Munich; Editing by David Evans and Keith Weir)