Nuremberg, Germany - A German trade union leader accepted large sums of money from industrial group Siemens under the guise of fees for training courses, a prosecutor told a court in Nuremberg Wednesday.

Wilhelm Schelsky, former leader of the conservative AUB union, went on trial for fraud and tax evasion. The court was told he filed 44 invoices for 30.3 million euros (47 million dollars) plus tax for work he never carried out.

Also on trial at the state court in Nuremberg was Johannes Feldmayer, a former member of the main Siemens board. He was accused of misappropriating corporate funds.

The double case is the newest of a series in which prosecutors have revealed how bribery was rife at Siemens, with executives hiding the expenditure under innocuous descriptions in the corporate accounts.

Other departments spent large sums paying kickbacks to secure contracts in Greece, Italy and elsewhere, according to prosecutors.

Executive board member Feldmayer signed a contract with Schelsky in 2001 to pay 2 million euros annually.

On paper, this was mainly for union-operated training courses, but the indictment said Feldmayer's true purpose was to weaken another trade union, IG Metall, by nurturing AUB.

The militant IG Metall is Germany's principal industrial union and holds seats on the Siemens supervisory board. The tiny AUB, which represented non-militant Siemens staff, adopted a pro-business stance.

Prosecutor Antje Gabriels-Gorsolke told the court, "When they signed the contract, the two defendants were of one mind that Schelsky did not have to perform what was officially agreed, but that the fees were to be for the expansion, preservation and cultivation of the AUB."

She said that by 2006, Schelsky had begun diverting some of the funds to his own private needs, to his own business interests and to the sponsorship of sport.

Juergen Lubojanski, representing Schelsky, told reporters outside the court that he would show that "much" of the prosecution case was not proven. (dpa)