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Germany Launches Winterkorn Fraud Probe

Federal prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation to determine whether former Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn played a role in the company's diesel emission testing scandal, Bloomberg News reports.
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Federal prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation to determine whether former Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn played a role in the company's diesel emission testing scandal, Bloomberg News reports.

Winterkorn, who resigned last week, says he knew nothing about the use of special software installed in 11 million of the company's diesel-powered vehicles specifically to cheat on government emission tests. Bloomberg says prosecutors will use the probe to determine who was responsible for authorizing the software.

The engines involved in the scandal were initially developed at VW's Audi unit when Winterkorn was chairman and head of technical development there.

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