VW boss faces ‘dieselgate’ probe
Matthias Mueller and others suspected of withholding information from shareholders
VOLKSWAGEN chief executive Matthias Mueller yesterday stood in the focus of an investigation into the world’s largest carmaker’s “dieselgate” scandal for the first time, along with other key players at the firm.
Mueller and others were suspected of knowingly delaying telling shareholders about the financial consequences for Porsche SE of software manipulation in diesel vehicles by Volkswagen AG, prosecutors in southwestern city Stuttgart said in a statement.
Porsche SE, separate from VW subsidiary Porsche AG, is a holding company with a majority stake in Volkswagen, and is itself owned by the descendants of renowned VW Beetle inventor Ferdinand Porsche.
VW admitted in September 2015 to using so-called “defeat device” software to cheat regulatory nitrogen oxides emissions tests in some 11 million cars worldwide, pitching the company into the deepest crisis in its history.
The revelations saw the group’s shares plummet by 40% in two days.
Along with Mueller, former VW chief executive Martin Winterkorn and Porsche SE chairman HansDieter Poetsch were also suspected of failing to share information with investors in their roles as Porsche SE board members, prosecutors said.
As chief executive of Porsche AG until 2015, when he took over from Winterkorn as Volkswagen chief, Mueller was not caught up in probes into those who sat on the parent company’s board up until the scandal broke.
But he did sit on the Porsche SE board before the revelations, making him a target for the present allegations.
“Porsche SE sees the accusations raised as unfounded,” the firm countered yesterday.
“It believes that it has always fulfilled its duties of publication under capital markets law in an orderly fashion.”
A Volkswagen spokesman declined to comment on the prosecutors’ statement.
Investigators opened the latest dossier in February, in response to charges levelled by German financial supervisor BaFin in the middle of last year.
While it is the first time Mueller has been targeted by prosecutors over market manipulation, Winterkorn, Poetsch – a former chief financial officer and present supervisory board chief at VW – and VW brand chief Herbert Diess were already in the sights of a separate investigation for market manipulation in their VW roles.
Winterkorn has always insisted that he knew nothing about the diesel cheating, but stepped down following the firm’s admission that it had taken place.
Volkswagen faces an array of legal challenges in Germany and worldwide relating to its cheating software, installed mainly in own-brand vehicles but also in cars made by Audi, Skoda and Seat, among its stable of 12 brands.
Shareholders and car buyers have launched suits seeking compensation, while prosecutors in Brunswick, north Germany, are investigating 37 individuals at the company for fraud.
Others face probes over incorrect carbon dioxide emissions data.
Volkswagen has so far set aside more than ß22-billion (R324-billion) to cover fines and compensation related to the “dieselgate” affair, but experts estimate the final bill could be much higher. – AFP