New billionaire agreement in the USA is for “Volkswagen” an important step in resolving the fraud with the exhaust gases. However, this scandal for automakers is not over, including to the Board.
The biggest scandal of the German automaker in the U.S., it seems, taken on Wednesday its first barrier. Volkswagen pleaded guilty that he cheated his indicators on emissions of diesel engines and power consumers, violated the law on environmental protection and resisted the work of justice. For this, Volkswagen must pay as a penalty 4.1 billion euros. Six managers of “Volkswagen” filed in the United States on charges of fraud.
Despite the agreement, a case of fraud with the exhaust gases is not closed. Although the members of the Board in Wolfsburg and can breathe a sigh of relief because they are yet spared. However, the Deputy U.S. attorney Sally Yates (Yates Sally) said Wednesday that, despite the agreement, the investigation is not yet complete. In particular, the interrogation of the accused employees of Volkswagen will soon show, whether to worry about the other managers in the group.
Defining moment: from the already mentioned violations of Volkswagen is almost paid off. However, individual charges against six managers who allegedly participated in the creation and promotion of these motors before, only concealed these violations from the authorities, not removed.
The FBI arrested a German Manager
One of these employees, which belongs probably to the middle managers, was arrested by the FBI on Saturday in Miami. He worked from 2012 to February of 2015 in the office of “Volkswagen”, responsible for engineering and environmental protection. The other defendants are, according to US justice, presumably in Germany.
Wanted the other “accomplices of the conspiracy”
The prosecution is investigating in detail the origin of the device, called the Defeat Device figures out when and how it was created and improved the software and how it all disappeared. Moreover, the investigators quoted the information from the internal email correspondence. Thus, based on this correspondence of one of the accused, one Manager told him on the phone, “why another member should no longer participate in the meetings of CARB — so he don’t have to constantly lie”. CARB is the California office for environmental protection California Air Resources Board.
In the indictment of 39 pages we are constantly talking about six employees and “their accomplices in the conspiracy.” If during the investigation there will be new suspicious moments, the prosecution may be extended by other suspects.
One familiar with the case expert in criminal law said in an interview with WirtschaftsWoche on the procedure of interrogation in the U.S., which now held: “Usually in such cases, everyone is pointing the finger at others and trying to shift at their own guilt. And, of course, trying the accused in such cases to make a deal with prosecutors”. How far these charges, and can they still be a threat to the Board, “Volkswagen”, not yet quantifiable.
