Volkswagen Board Totally Cool With Management's Actions, Despite Ongoing Investigation

Investigators are still probing Volkswagen’s actions in the diesel emissions scandal, but the board that oversees the actions of the company’s top brass isn’t too concerned.

The supervisory board, made up of investor and labor interests, just cleared Volkswagen’s management of any breaches of duty in 2015 in preparation for their annual shareholders meeting, Bloomberg reports.

To say 2015 was an eventful year for Volkswagen is akin to saying Neil Armstrong had fun in the late ’60s. It was so eventful, its CEO took a permanent vacation. Many medicine cabinets in Wolfsburg were likely renovated to handle an influx of new prescriptions.

Among the head honchos at Volkswagen cleared by the board was its CEO, Matthias Mueller, who took the helm when Martin Winterkorn left the top position shortly after the scandal broke. The board recommended that shareholders ratify management’s 2015 decisions, an action required by German law.

The significance of the board’s actions comes from the fact the members based their stance on facts arising from the internal investigation conducted by law firm Jones Day.

The investigation’s findings remain a secret until the process wraps up later this year, but if the supervisory board feels this confident, it’s easy to speculate that the report won’t finger existing management for wrongdoing in the “defeat device” saga.

That said, the investigation isn’t over, and everyone at Volkswagen is keeping mum on what the investigators have, or haven’t, uncovered.

This is the second (mild) piece of good news for Volkswagen execs this week. Recently, sources leaked news that the automaker is close to reaching a fix for its 3.0-liter TDI models in the U.S., one that keeps 85,000 vehicles on the road and avoids a costly buyback program.