(FRANKFURT) - German insurers could face claims of up to 250 million euros (390 million dollars) from Siemens over executives in connection with a corruption scandal at the engineering group, a press report said Monday.

Insurance giant Allianz faced possible payments of 70 million euros, the Financial Times Deutschland reported, citing industry sources.

Siemens, which has been hit by charges of systemic bribery to obtain foreign contracts, has filed a claim of 250 million euros under a Directors' and Officers' Liability Insurance scheme taken out with a consortium led by Allianz, the report said.

Under this DO insurance policy, companies seek to protect management board and supervisory board members against possible damages claims, the newspaper said.

In this case, Siemens could itself pursue former executives suspected of having ignored or tolerated allegedly widespread corruption within the company.

Siemens is currently conducting an in-house probe which has uncovered evidence of systemic use of slush funds to win contracts over a number of years.

Both Siemens and Allianz declined to comment on the matter, the newspaper said.

Siemens has acknowledged the existence of special funds worth 1.3 billion euros (2.1 billion dollars) and agreed in October to pay a fine of 201 million euros to put an end to some German legal proceedings.

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