German authorities raid Volkswagen’s law firm DID THE FIRM HIDE EVIDENCE?
German authorities searched the offices of the American law firm Volkswagen hired to conduct an internal investigation of its emissions fraud, the carmaker confirmed on Thursday, raising questions about the credibility of the company’s efforts to uncover wrongdoing in its ranks.
The raid targeted Jones Day, which since 2015 has been conducting a wide-ranging inquiry into who at Volkswagen was responsible for an emissions cheating scheme that has already led to more than $22 billion in fines and settlements.
Evidence collected by the law firm and shared with the American authorities formed the basis for Volkswagen’s guilty plea in the United States last week over charges tied to emissions deception involving diesel engines.
But the search by prosecutors in Munich of Jones Day, which has a large presence in Germany, suggests that the authorities believe the firm has not divulged all documents that may be relevant to the case. If so, it would be a blow to Jones Day’s reputation while raising the possibility of new revelations that would further tarnish Volkswagen.
The search and seizure of documents from the firm also signalled that the German authorities have become more aggressive in pursuing criminal charges against the company and its luxury car unit Audi.
Separate inquiries by German prosecutors have targeted the manipulation of three-liter engines produced by Audi for sale in the United States and accusations of securities violations by Volkswagen. The authorities are also investigating more than three dozen current or former employees of Volkswagen, including a former chief executive.
Though Volkswagen has admitted that its employees rigged diesel engines to produce artificially low emissions during lab tests, the company has insisted that no members of its current management board were involved.
The search of Jones Day took place on Wednesday as part of a series of raids that | | | Evidence was collected by Jones Day and shared with the American authorities formed the basis for Volkswagen’s guilty plea in the US last week But the search by prosecutors in Munich suggests that the authorities believe the firm has not divulged all documents that may be relevant to the case The search and seizure of documents from the firm also signalled that the German authorities have become more aggressive in pursuing criminal charges against the company included the headquarters of Audi in Ingolstadt in Bavaria, an Audi factory in Neckarsulm north of Stuttgart, and private homes. The search of Jones Day was first reported by German newspaper Handelsblatt.
Ken Heidenreich, a spokesman for prosecutors in Munich, would not say which Jones Day office or offices had been searched. The searches related to Audi, all of which were approved by a Munich judge, continued on Thursday as investigators secured electronic data, Heidenreich said.
Ansgar Rempp, the Jones Day partner in charge of the firm’s German operations, declined to comment. But Volkswagen reacted angrily to the search of the firm, saying in a statement that the action by prosecutors was “a clear breach of the principles of the rule of law.”
“We will take all the action at our disposal against these proceedings,” the company said.
In the United States, communications between lawyers and their clients are usually off limits to the government. But rules on lawyer-client privilege are less absolute in Germany, said Matthias Jahn, director of the Institute for Economic Crimes Law at the University of Frankfurt.
Still, Jahn said, it was unusual for prosecutors to seize documents from a law firm in an investigation of the firm’s client. He noted that investigators searched Audi headquarters on Wednesday as it was holding a news conference there to discuss its annual financial results, an acute embarrassment for one of Volkswagen’s most important brands.