Siemens AG, Zurich, dismissed Roland Ruemmeli, portfolio manager for the company's €1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) Swiss pension fund who had been arrested in connection with an insider-trading scandal, according to Siemens spokesman Benno Estermann.
The termination followed an interim report of Siemens' internal investigation that determined Mr. Ruemmeli violated the company's professional standards, Mr. Estermann said. Mr. Ruemmeli was arrested in September on suspicion of receiving kickbacks for selling 390,000 shares of Swissfirst AG a few days before the bank announced it was acquiring Bellevue Group. The share price increased by about 30% following the announcement, resulting in a hypothetical loss to the pension fund. The case led to a criminal investigation by Swiss authorities of Swissfirst and other institutional investors, including pension funds.
Mr. Ruemmeli has been released by Swiss police while the investigation continues. However, Siemens' decision to terminate Mr. Ruemmeli was made regardless of the outcome of the criminal investigation, Mr. Estermann said. He declined to provide further details about the company's internal investigation. Arno Thuerig, state attorney for the prosecutor in the canton of Zurich, could not be reached by press time for comment.
