Ex-Siemens executive pleads guilty in U.S. in Argentine bribery case

(Reuters) - A former Siemens AG employee pleaded guilty on Thursday to U.S. charges he took part in a $100 million scheme to bribe Argentine officials to win a contract to produce national identity cards, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Eberhard Reichert, a 78-year-old German national, pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to one count of conspiring to violate the anti-bribery, internal controls and books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to commit wire fraud, the department said in a statement.

(Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Eric Walsh)