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'Dieselgate' fallout leads to score-settling at Volkswagen
By Estelle PEARD
Frankfurt Am Main (AFP) Feb 9, 2017


VW rejects 'dieselgate' allegations by ex-boss Piech
Berlin (AFP) Feb 9, 2017 - Volkswagen Wednesday rejected allegations by former boss Ferdinand Piech who reportedly said the German car giant was aware of the "dieselgate" emissions cheating scam well before the scandal broke.

German magazine Der Spiegel said last week that Piech, ex-chairman of the Volkswagen supervisory board, had incriminated former group CEO Martin Winterkorn, who had "knowledge of the diesel fraud earlier than admitted".

"All affected members of the executive committee of the supervisory board, acting independently of each other, have unequivocally and emphatically rejected all assertions made by Ferdinand Piech as untrue," Volkswagen said in a statement, threatening possible legal action against him.

Piech, a grandson of VW's founder who served as CEO between 1993 and 2002, was forced from his position as chairman of its supervisory board in April 2015 after an ugly leadership battle with his former protege Winterkorn.

According to Der Spiegel, Piech told German investigators that he himself learned from an informant in February 2015 that the company had a "big problem" in the United States.

The source told Piech that US authorities were looking into its use of manipulating software to dupe pollution tests and had passed on their findings to Volkswagen.

Piech then asked Winterkorn about it, who assured him that no such document from US officials existed, according to Der Spiegel.

After steering Volkswagen from 2007 to 2015, Winterkorn resigned days after VW admitted in September 2015 that it had installed so-called defeat devices in 11 million diesel engines worldwide to make the cars seem less polluting than they were.

Winterkorn has always insisted he knew nothing of the scam before it became public knowledge.

Prosecutors in the German city of Brunswick however announced at the end of January that they were investigating Winterkorn for fraud, saying they had "sufficient indications" he knew about the cheating earlier than he claimed.

Volkswagen's "dieselgate" crisis turned personal this week, as the German auto giant's patriarch and ex-boss Ferdinand Piech implicated his successors in the cheating scandal.

The rift was laid bare after the Wolfsburg-based firm's supervisory board issued a statement late Wednesday to dispute Piech's claims that board members knew about the diesel emissions cheating sooner than they have so far admitted.

The board members targeted in Piech's allegations "rejected them as false, independently from one another," the statement read.

An internal investigation had examined Piech's claims last year and found no evidence, the firm added.

According to German tabloid Bild, Piech has told prosecutors in the German city of Brunswick that he heard rumours about the fraud in February 2015, while he was still chairman of the supervisory board.

He reportedly put the allegations to then-chief executive Martin Winterkorn, who denied them, and to some members of the board.

The allegations have explosive potential as so far VW has always denied that senior management knew of the cheating before it became public knowledge in September 2015.

The company's admission at the time that it had installed in 11 million diesel engines worldwide software designed to dupe pollution tests triggered a share sell-off and a deep crisis at the carmaker.

Prosecutors have told AFP that no one who sat on the supervisory board at the time of Piech's allegations is under investigation, but would not comment on the witnesses they had interviewed or their testimony.

"Piech is clearly trying to settle scores," a VW source who asked not to be identified told AFP.

- 'Fake news' -

As the grandson of the inventor of the VW Beetle, former chief executive and a member of the Porsche-Piech clan that owns much of the group, 79-year-old Piech was long a fixture at VW.

But a confrontation with Winterkorn, his former protege, cost him his place at the head of the supervisory board in April 2015.

"There might be a connection there" to Piech's latest allegations, said Stephan Weil, the minister-president of the carmaker's home state of Lower Saxony, which is a major VW shareholder.

"It's regrettable that a man with indisputable merits like Ferdinand Piech is now resorting to tactics that can only be described as 'fake news'," Weil was quoted as saying by German news agency DPA on Thursday.

The cause of Piech and Winterkorn's falling-out -- after years in which they worked hand-in-glove -- has so far remained a mystery.

- High stakes -

VW has already agreed to pay out more than $22 billion to customers, dealers and authorities in the US to settle claims related to the emissions scam.

But if Piech's allegations turn out to be true, the bill could become even weightier, Bratzel noted, making him "very dangerous" for the firm.

Investors who suffered losses when 'dieselgate' became public are demanding billions of euros in damages from the group, saying it failed to inform them in time.

Meanwhile, investigators in the US and Germany are still trying to determine who was responsible.

Winterkorn -- who stepped down days after the dieselgate scandal broke -- is already under investigation by Brunswick prosecutors over when he knew about the defeat devices.

esp-tgb/mfp/rl

VOLKSWAGEN


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Luxembourg prosecutes unknown person in VW scandal
Luxembourg (AFP) Feb 7, 2017
Luxembourg has filed a criminal case against an unknown person in an unusual step related to the Volkswagen "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal. The duchy insisted that it was the victim of the row, despite having itself been one of seven countries sued by the European Union for failing to crack down on auto pollution. "Luxembourg declares itself a victim of criminal and negligent ac ... read more


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