Ex-Volkswagen CEO Reappears, Claims He Didn't Know Nuthin'
As far as anyone knows, former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn spent the last 16 months on a desert island.
After resigning his post in the turbulent days after the diesel emissions scandal went public, Winterkorn stayed out of the spotlight, shying from any public appearances. That is, until now. As indictments land in executives’ laps and top brass grow wary of leaving the country, Winterkorn showed his face to a parliamentary committee in Berlin.
Apologetic but unbowed, Winterkorn broke his silence but maintained his innocence. The ex-CEO claimed he wasn’t directly involved in the creation and cover-up of the company’s emissions-cheating defeat devices, Bloomberg reports.
“It’s incomprehensible why I wasn’t informed early and clearly,” Winterkorn said. “I would have prevented any type of deception or misleading of authorities.”
German prosecutors opened an investigation into his actions last June, and speculation regarding his level of knowledge of the devices continues to fly. The affidavit filed after this month’s indictments points to broad knowledge of the devices among company executives. Besides the FBI’s court filing, there’s plenty of other food for thought.
Winterkorn is alleged to have received a memo detailing early investigations into the diesel affair over a year before the scandal went public. The former CEO claims he didn’t remember reading it. Months before the Environmental Protection Agency leveled its accusations, Winterkorn apparently sat in on a meeting where the issue was discussed. He also reportedly signed a pre-scandal document authorizing the release of only some of the information requested of the company by U.S. regulators.
According to Bloomberg, Winterkorn’s defense — in which he claimed to know nothing about software and that knowledge of the devices never reached his desk — is at odds with his reputation as a micro-manager. Winterkorn took on the role of CEO in 2007. The FBI claims that the conspiracy to dupe American regulators began in 2006. Many would argue that if he didn’t know something was amiss in his nearly decade-long tenure, he should have.
Winterkorn apparently departed from the committee hearing after making a final apology.
“What happened makes people furious — me too,” he said. “I’m deeply upset that we disappointed millions of our customers.”
[Image: Volkswagen AG/ Wikimedia Commons ( CC BY 3.0)]
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Consider the following scenario, a mix of fact and conjecture: Winterkorn (and Piëch): - detail obsessed micromanagers; - Piëch being a engine engineering engineer by training, having picked out the FI system for these engines, having apparently decided to cancel the 1,000€/car (when VW's only cleared 800€/car profit) AD Blue licensing agreement with Daimler, would seem to be up to his elbows in engine architecture decisions; - Wiko as Piëch's mini-me (Schabern! Schabbern would have wanted to be in on every detail; - maybe not as "open door" as they claim (it's tough to enter a c-suite in most companies, and mail/email go through many assistant filters - crisis issues tend to penetrate such filters though); - but having countless unofficial (as well as official) trusted source direct access channels feeding them info outside of the normal bureaucracy; - to help sort/manage such info, they had a professional fireman (think Mr Wolf from Pulp Fiction but w/o the mustache, tux or NSX) to expose, manage and clean up crises. Nobody smart ignores the fireman; - the fireman doesn't waste time cleaning up things that are immaterial or handable by the line organization. He handles expensive, embarrassing, issues that risk the company or managements neck's; - if Wiko gets a call, letter, email from the fireman, it will captivate his attention, a good administrative assistant will put fireman communiques on the top of weekend reading as missing these risks bad things; - if Wiko learns of expensive (or stop-ship level) problems it will focus his mind and elicit questions of how much?, what?, who?, why? A recall of 500k cars, is bound to elicit these questions from all not in a coma, when it turns out to be emissions with fines, the red light is blinking and any later claim of not having details (what underling comes w/o details to a detail maniac?) Seems extremely implausible; - when patron/mentor Piëch hears from Wiko, this detail maniac will ask the same questions and the ejection light starts flashing (because even if in on the deal from the beginning, one doesn't want to be hung based on participation in obstruction at the end); - when Piëch and wife abruptly quit board of company their family mostly control (with the quote "I feel a growing distance to Wiko), it is less likely coincidence than proactive exit to support plausible deniability while rest of organization mobilizes under the don't get caught (at least until the 2016 cars are certified for sale). - when Wiko and the VW organization fail to find details or memories pointing upwards, it could be because the players in charge are still handpicked management from the old regime, some of which are on retainer to act as a firewall for the top two layers of control; - the former second layer of control, in his testimony yesterday, besides trying to save his own neck, appears to be playing the part of firewall on retainer.
Aw, maybe he really didn't know. Everyone knows Ferdinand Piech was running everything. Why hasn't HE been questioned? Answer: he knows where the bodies are buried - he probably buried most of 'em. It wasn't just the engineers who were afraid of him.