BERLIN (AP) --- Truck maker MAN SE announced Friday that it is creating a new compliance department, a move that comes after prosecutors launched an investigation of alleged bribery at the company.
The new department will start work Jan. 1 and will be headed by Olaf Schneider, a 38-year-old lawyer who previously was a top compliance official at General Electric Co., MAN said.
Schneider will "assume worldwide responsibility for compliance organization throughout the entire MAN Group," the Munich-based company said in a brief statement.
Munich prosecutors launched an investigation of alleged bribery in May, saying they suspected that a "system to boost sales of trucks and buses" was in place in Germany.
They said salespeople are alleged to have paid "bribes characterized as commission payments" to employees of MAN customers, sometimes via the accounts of relatives and friends.
MAN has pledged full support to the investigation and stressed that its policies specifically prohibit the payment of bribes to procure business.
