Overseer faults VW’s reform efforts since emissions scandal

FRANKFURT, Germany — Volkswagen’s attempt to remake its company culture and become more law abiding has received poor grades from the former U.S. prosecutor enforcing the carmaker’s compliance with a deal that settled emissions cheating charges.

The German carmaker acknowledged Sunday that a progress report found it had failed to hold executives accountable for wrongdoing that led to the huge emissions fraud, and it was not making a serious enough attempt to remake its culture. The report was prepared by Larry Thompson, a former U.S. attorney who later spent several years as deputy attorney general during President George W. Bush’s administration.

The conclusions of Thompson’s confidential report, first reported by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper and confirmed by a Volkswagen spokesman, are the latest sign a ballyhooed campaign by Volkswagen to become an exemplary corporate citizen has been floundering.

Last week, nearly 200 German police officers and prosecutors raided offices of Porsche in Stuttgart and other locations, seizing documents as part of an investigation into what role the sports carmaker, a division of Volkswagen, may have played in a conspiracy to conceal excess diesel emissions from regulators.

The raid threatened one of Volkswagen’s biggest moneymaking divisions and showed that German prosecutors are intensifying an investigation they have said targets more than 50 suspects, including a member of Porsche’s top management.

But there also were tentative indications Thompson’s report, which he is required by court order to keep secret, could prompt a change of behavior at Volkswagen under a newly appointed chief executive.