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VW Board Member, Ex-CEO Winterkorn Face Criminal Probe
Prosecutors in Brunswick, Germany, have opened an investigation to determine whether former Volkswagen AG CEO Martin Winterkorn and an unidentified current VW board member are guilty of market manipulation.
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Prosecutors in Brunswick, Germany, have opened an investigation to determine whether former Volkswagen AG CEO Martin Winterkorn and an unidentified current VW board member are guilty of market manipulation.
Investigators tell Automotive News Europe there are “sufficient real signs” the company should have disclosed the risk earlier than last Sept. 22, when VW publicly admitted it rigged diesel engines to evade emission laws. The probe was prompted by charges filed by BaFin, Germany’s financial regulatory agency.
The Brunswick prosecutor’s office says the two executives, if charged, will face fines or as much as five years in prison. The office says Chairman Hans-Dieter Poetsch, who was chief financial officer at the time, is not currently a target of the investigation.
In its annual report in April, VW acknowledges it knew about the cheating earlier. But it says it dismissed the sanctions as “controllable” and likely to be resolved amicably with regulatory officials. The company says it was surprised when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency instead issued a notice of violation on Sept. 18.
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