Berlin's data protection agency has imposed a fine against Germany's national rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, for an e-mail privacy scandal that shook the company earlier this year.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn confirmed that the company had been fined, but refused to discuss the amount. According to the German daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the fine is 1.1 million euros ($1.6 million). The company now has two weeks to file an appeal.

The company admitted to monitoring hundreds of thousands of employee e-mails and searching their computer hard drives. As the scandal unfolded last spring, former Deutsche Bahn CEO Hartmut Mehdorn announced his resignation and was replaced by former Daimler executive Ruediger Grube.

mz/DPA/AP/afp
Editor: Chuck Penfold