Prosecutors: No Sign that Top VW Execs Are Linked to Diesel Scandal

Prosecutors in Germany who are investigating Volkswagen AG’s diesel emission cheating scandal say nothing has surfaced to date to implicate the company’s senior management in the affair.

The prosecutors office in Brunswick near VW’s headquarters tells Bloomberg News it has a “fairly good” sense of how the scandal developed. The office is investigating 21 people, none of whom is a member of the company’s supervisory or executive board. If the probe had turned up any clear link to one or more board members, a spokesman says, the office “would have communicated that to the public."

VW has insisted since the scandal surfaced a year ago that its top management didn't know the company had since 2009 doctored 11 million diesels to elude emission standards. At least three separate investigations into the scandal are under way in the U.S. and Germany, and observers note that new evidence of broader involvement could still emerge.

The Brunswick prosecutors tell Bloomberg their own probe is likely to continue at least through much of 2017. Until then, the office says it won’t speculate about the size of a possible fine against VW.