German engineering giant Siemens AG on Sunday named Peter Loescher as its new CEO to succeed Klaus Kleinfeld, who is to step down on June 30.

The appointment was made at a special meeting of the Siemens supervisory board.

Loescher, 49, is now working for New Jersey-based U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck, and holds the post of the president for global human health in the company.

Kleinfeld, of the same age as his successor, became Siemens' CEO in January 2005. Having been working for Siemens for two decades, he decided on April 25 to step down three months before his contract expires, after Siemens chairman Heinrich von Pierer announced that he was resigning.

Siemens has been mired in a series of allegations of bribery, corruption and embezzlement, which culminated recently in the arrest of Johannes Feldmayer, a member of its central management board.

Feldmayer was arrested and subsequently released on bail.

Pressure had been mounting on von Pierer as he was the company's chief executive during 1992-2005, which was the period when the company was allegedly involved in the series of corrupt practices.

It has been reported that a figure totaling 420 million euros (570 million U.S. dollars) was allegedly used in paying bribes.