German technology and engineering giant Siemens AG announced today that Peter Solmssen, general counsel and head of the legal and compliance department, by mutual agreement will leave the company Dec. 31. His contract was not due to expire until 2017.

Solmssen's departure is part of a restructuring effort being undertaken by President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser, previously chief financial officer, who took over as CEO this summer after the resignation of former CEO Peter Loescher.

As Compliance Week previously reported, Siemens reached a record $1.6 billion settlement with the United States and German regulators in 2008 stemming from a massive bribery scheme that felled the highest executives at the company for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  The settlement resolved charges that Siemens paid a staggering $1.4 billion in bribes to government officials in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.

According to Siemens, legal and compliance will be assigned to Kaeser himself. Andreas Christian Hoffmann will be the new general counsel and head of the legal and compliance department and report directly to Kaeser. Hoffmann joined Siemens AG in 2008 as general counsel for industry sector before moving to the company's headquarters as general counsel, corporate and finance, in 2010.