A former executive of the German electronics giant Siemens, suspected of paying bribes to Greek politicians, has paid the company 1.2 million euros in an out-of-court settlement, news reports said Saturday.

Michael Christophorakos, who has dual German-Greek citizenship, was general director of Siemens' Greek subsidiary from 1996 to 2007.

German and Greek investigators suspect him of having paid bribes to Greek politicians to obtain a contract with the country's telecommunications operator OTE.

He was arrested in June last year in a house south of Munich where he was hiding, a month after an international warrant for his arrest was issued by Greek authorities along with a request for his extradition.

He was released in late 2009 after a court ruling and was never extradited.

Der Spiegel magazine said in its issue to be published on Monday that Siemens had claimed damages as early as late 2008.

A number of former Siemens executives, implicated in corruption scandals, have agreed to paying damages as part of out-of-court settlements.

Klaus Kleinfeld, then Siemens' chief executive stepped down in 2007 to allow the company to focus on weathering the far-reaching corruption scandals. He and another Siemens boss, Heinrich von Pierer, have both paid compensation.

Siemens paid out 1.3 billion euros in bribes to foreign officials in exchange for landing lucrative contracts between 2000 and 2006, making it the biggest scandal in corporate German history.