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Siemens, regulator deny China bribery report

A Siemens logo is pictured on an office building of Siemens AG in Munich May 30, 2014. REUTERS/Lukas Barth

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Siemens AG and China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), a competition regulator, denied a Reuters report that the SAIC investigated the German group's healthcare unit and its dealers for "commercial bribery". "The SAIC has not launched a commercial bribery investigation into Siemens Healthcare Unit," a spokesperson for the regulator said in a statement on its website. Senior Germany-based Siemens spokesman Matthias Kraemer said in response to the Reuters article: "The fact is, a branch of Administration of Industry and Commerce (AIC) in Shanghai is looking into Siemens Healthcare's Laboratory Diagnostics marketing and business model, which is common worldwide in the industry." "Contrary to the recent media reports, the probe is neither corruption-related nor related to any personal benefits to individuals," he said, adding Siemens was working closely with AIC to dispel its concerns and "expects to resolve the matter in the near future." (Reporting by Adam Jourdan and Engen Tham; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)