Klaus Kleinfeld, one of the brightest lights of German industry, was forced to step down as chief executive of Siemens yesterday after a boardroom coup.

The powerful engineering group has been racked by corruption scandals and the 49-year-old executive — admired by investors but distrusted by the unions — could no longer fight off growing public criticism. Not even the early release of healthy first-quarter figures, showing profits up 36 per cent to €1.3 billion (£885 million) could save him.

Mr Kleinfeld said: “In these times, the company needs to retain clarity about its leadership. The company must remain effective.”

The coup against him appears to have been engineered by Josef Ackermann, the Swiss-born chief executive of Deutsche Bank, who is a Siemens nonexecutive director. The banker’s concern was that the corruption scandals would seriously complicate the relationship of Siemens with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Under Mr Kleinfeld, Siemens has been buying up companies in America, its latest acquisition being UGS, an industrial software company. Increasingly, questions were being raised in the United States about how aware management was of the corruption affairs.

Two investigations are under way. One is into allegations of a slush fund set up to channel bribes totalling €426 million to foreign clients during the 1990s.

A second inquiry, begun last month, is looking into claims that cash was paid to employer-friendly workforce representatives. A member of the executive board is being investigated and Mr Kleinfeld’s office has been searched by the state prosecutor.

Nine days ago, Heinrich von Pierer, the head of the Siemens supervisory board, was also pushed to resign and he formally quit yesterday. He had been chief executive of Siemens at the time of the alleged bribery scandals. Both Mr von Pierer and Mr Kleinfeld have denied any knowledge of any scams.

Mr Kleinfeld has been at the helm of Siemens for two years. His main brief was to accelerate change, but sometimes he displayed an uncertain touch.

The more that Mr Kleinfeld tried to raise shareholder value, the more restless the unions became. They had enjoyed a quieter and more privileged life under Mr von Pierer. Mr Kleinfeld was described as brash and “American”.

The first leaks about a Siemens slush fund may have come from union sources. However, when the coups against Mr von Pierer and then against Mr Kleinfeld came, the unions were taken by surprise. Unbeknown to them, Mr Ackermann had been looking around for alternatives and there is no executive in Germany with a better overview of who is available and appropriate. Gerhard Cromme, the former steel executive, took over as chairman of the supervisory board yesterday and two names are being touted for chief executive. Wolfgang Reitzle, of Linde, the white goods group, apparently has denied interest in the job, but industry sources say that the challenge would fascinate him. The other mooted name is Wolfgang Bernhard, the former Volkswagen reformer, who recently missed out on heading the car group.

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