German Prosecutors Investigating VW's Former Chief Winterkorn

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

A criminal complaint in Germany (that could have been filed by anyone) has prompted an investigation into whether former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn knew the automaker was selling cars with an illegal “defeat device” to fool emissions test, Reuters reported.

Several complaints have been filed with German prosecutors, including one from within Volkswagen, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Winterkorn’s investigation may take months — or even years — as German authorities look into how widespread cheating and lying was at the automaker.

Winterkorn resigned as CEO from Volkswagen last week and said that he had no knowledge that the automaker was designing its diesel cars to cheat through emissions standards.

When his resignation was announced, Volkswagen’s supervisory board said it would hire an outside investigator to research how the company developed its defeat device.

Over the weekend, German magazine Der Spiegel reported that three R&D chiefs at Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche are being forced out because of the growing scandal.


Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

More by Aaron Cole

Comments
Join the conversation
9 of 17 comments
  • 65corvair 65corvair on Sep 28, 2015

    Richard Milhous Winterkorn. Do I need to say more?

  • ClutchCarGo ClutchCarGo on Sep 28, 2015

    I'm imaging how every German politician from Merkel on down to the lowliest village councilman is rummaging through the archives to see what photo-ops with Winterkorn they participated in.

  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Sep 28, 2015

    He said he had no prior knowledge. That's good enough for me.

    • See 1 previous
    • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Sep 30, 2015

      Me too. He was only the CEO, and his job is to shmooze and give out general instruction/marching orders. The lower ranks in R&D are told to meet the testing standards and nobody above them asks how they're going to do it. Except maybe Ferdinand Piech.

  • Tylanner Tylanner on Sep 28, 2015

    As much as I suspect he was central to the whole scheme, I will be astounded if the investigation finds any physical proof linking SummerSquash to the device. As a CEO, the line of people begging to be his fall-guy is a mile long and under the table decisions like this can be settled with glances and handshakes.

    • See 2 previous
    • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Sep 30, 2015

      @VCplayer VERY true about German record keeping. But the records may well show he gave the order to make the cars meet the testing standards, but wasn't told how R&D accomplished it. That stuff usually doesn't percolate back up to the top brass.

Next