BREAKING: Investigators Raid Volkswagen Offices, Private Residences in Germany

by Mark Stevenson

Updated: November 6th, 2015

breaking investigators raid volkswagen offices private residences in germany

Volkswagen offices and private residences were raided Thursday morning in Wolfsburg as part of the ongoing investigation into the company’s emission scheme that saw “defeat devices” used in its 2.0-liter diesel vehicles, reports German media outlet HAZ.

A team of approximately 50 task force personnel from the Lower Saxony’s office of criminal investigation raided multiple locations to gather evidence on those involved in the scandal.

A “comprehensive collection of documents” (translated from German to English) was handed over to investigators.

The names of the employees who had their homes raided were not provided.

More as the story develops.

#Germany #Investigation #Raid #Search #Volkswagen #VW #VwDieselScandal #Wolfsburg

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Corey Lewis on Oct 08, 2015

I do wonder how much notice whatever internal affairs informant VW has gave the people to get rid of necessary evidence(s).

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- VCplayer on Oct 08, 2015
  
  It can be very difficult actually to destroy evidence in a major corporation like that. VW probably keeps excellent records in lots of places. Destroying documents probably also requires records of the destruction to be kept, and it would require the cooperation of a lot of people who aren't going to feel the need to take a bullet for their bosses (mostly secretaries). If there's evidence of malfeasance, investigators have a pretty good chance of finding.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Oct 08, 2015
  
  @VCplayer You're right, of course. I just had a little movie playing in my head about the raid, and it was more fun to think of evidence destruction. Clive Owen was there.
  
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- VCplayer on Oct 08, 2015
  
  @Corey Lewis I'm really hoping they find something juicy enough to justify production of a made for TV movie. Or an HBO miniseries. HBO Presents: NOxious Claims Staring Clive Own
  
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- Lou_BC on Oct 08, 2015
  
  @VCPlayer - you saying that VW doesn't have a bunch of Frau Fawn Hall's on the payroll?
  
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- VCplayer on Oct 08, 2015
  
  @Lou_BC I'm sure there's a few floating around the company, but in a place like VW where the HR department assigns everyone to their jobs their loyalty is to their function rather than their direct boss. Probably 90% of the office secretaries I know would throw their boss under the bus in a heart beat in a legal matter. Maybe some upper echelon execs have assistants with more personal loyalty, but anyone working with middle to low end upper management is going to have administrative assistants that are going to look out for themselves first. They don't want to get audited and fired/blacklisted for their boss's crap.
  
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Lon888 on Oct 08, 2015

The Germans' haven't raided anything in while so I guess they're practicing up their skills. HANDS UP DUMMKOPF!

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- Corey Lewis on Oct 08, 2015
  
  I picture a very organized raid, conducted by calm police officers driving E350 TDI 4MATIC Estates. The lead inspector pulls up last, and he's a bit odd so he's got a Skoda Octavia. Organized sort of like when the Korean workers at Hyundai or wherever a couple years ago told management, "You know, we'll be striking and having a sit-in, tomorrow - promptly at 10:35AM."
  
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Bball40dtw on Oct 08, 2015

I'm waiting for the first Holocaust or Nazi joke. Who's going to be that guy this time? lon888 is close. Not quite offensive though.

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- 28-Cars-Later on Oct 08, 2015
  
  Mein Führer...! I can walk!! youtube.com/watch?v=ww7WlSPi9gc
  
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- ClutchCarGo on Oct 08, 2015
  
  Is this close enough? In Heaven, the police are British, the cooks are French and the bureaucrats are German. In Hell, the cooks are British, the bureaucrats are French and the police are German.
  
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- Drzhivago138 on Oct 08, 2015
  
  @ClutchCarGo I've heard the same, but they were engineers instead of bureaucrats.
  
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- ClutchCarGo on Oct 08, 2015
  
  @Drzhivago138 The French have a decent reputation as engineers, e.g. Eiffel and de Lesseps, and as misguided of a concept as the Maginot Line was it was well-made, but the unassailable French bureaucracy is legendary.
  
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- VoGo on Oct 08, 2015
  
  @ClutchCarGo Let's make it car related: In heaven, the cars have Japanese electronics, Italian design, British leather, German quality and American emissions. In hell, the electronics are British, the design is American, the leather is Japanese, quality is Italian and the emissions are German?
  
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- JD23 on Oct 08, 2015
  
  @ClutchCarGo Pretty good except that German quality is closers to hell than heaven.
  
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- Lou_BC on Oct 08, 2015
  
  @ClutchCarGo VoGo - unless you ask DeadWeight. Hell would be Cadillac, purgatory GM, and heaven - I'm not really sure. Is there something he likes? ;)
  
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- Lou_BC on Oct 08, 2015
  
  bball40dtw - maybe VW is full of Nazi's and they have never "let go" of the notion of "gassing" their opponents. That sort of covers both of your criteria.
  
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- Anonymous on Oct 08, 2015
  
  bball40dtw: "I’m waiting for the first Holocaust or Nazi joke." It seems that the gauntlet has been thrown down. So I'll bite. I see Hitler and Kaiser William at a diner. I ask them what they are up to. Hitler says they will kill 12,000,000 Jews and 3 clowns. I ask why the clowns. William looks at Hitler and says "I told you nobody would care about zee jews." Best I could do on short notice.
  
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SCE to AUX on Oct 08, 2015

I'm wondering how this debacle rises to the level where a "raid" is necessary. For once, I'll bring Toyota and GM into it - were their offices and homes raided in search of evidence? I don't see a moral equivalence in those scandals (VW having intent and GM/Toyota not), but they each could have been raided since the results of their issues were much more serious than VW's. There must be a significant financial or political component to this story we're not aware of. They might turn up some very interesting evidence that embarrasses a lot of people. You don't stage a simultaneous raid on offices and homes over a couple of engineers' trickery. This has surely raised the panic at VW to a new, previously unimaginable level. Their products are so poisonous now, I'm not sure they'll survive.

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- Jkross22 on Oct 08, 2015
  
  VW is a 'too big to fail'. It's hard to envision a circumstance where they would be allowed to go under.
  
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