Department of Defense agents last week searched the Malvern, Pa. headquarters of Siemens Medical Solutions in a reported investigation into a military contract Siemens was awarded in recent weeks.

Siemens Medical Solutions is a division of multi-national engineering and IT giant Siemens AG of Erlangen, Germany. The company has been the focus of a series of fraud and bribery scandals in recent years. In December 2008, the company agreed to pay fines of $1.3 billion in Germany and the United States to settle bribery charges.

Recently, Siemens Medical was awarded a Defense Department contract to sell medical imaging IT to the military.

"Investigators from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service of the U.S. Defense Department ... conducted a limited search of Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.'s Malvern facility," said Lance Longwell, director of public relations for Siemens Medical Solutions, in a statement. "The search was in connection with an investigation of a Siemens contract with the Department of Defense."

Siemens has cooperated fully with the investigation and will continue to do so, Longwell said.

The Philadelphia Business Journal reported that a whistleblower suit filed under the Federal False Claims Act by William A. Thomas could also be the reason for the DoD visit. Thomas is a Siemens executive who also worked for a company Siemens acquired and a company that bought Siemens equipment.