Volkswagen's Compliance Chief Splits Because Compliance Means Different Things To Different People, Apparently

Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt, Volkswagen Group AG’s compliance chief, is leaving the company after disputes with VW’s senior management regarding her responsibilities. Those duties primarily revolve around ensuring the automaker adheres to regulatory requirements — something Volkswagen has had a difficult time with as of late.

After only a year with the company, Volkswagen confirmed Hohmann-Dennhardt will be leaving at the end of this month. According to an official statement, her exodus is “due to differences in their understanding of responsibilities and future operating structures within the function she leads.”

Considering her role on the supervisory board consisted wholly of seeing Volkswagen through the devastating emissions crisis while improving its image and ensuring it did not commit anymore egregious unlawful acts, you have to wonder what those differences in understanding entailed.

Earlier this month, VW agreed to pay $4.3 billion in civil and criminal fines — the largest U.S. criminal fine ever imposed on an automaker — due to its nearly 10 years’ worth of diesel emission testing fraud. In October, it reached a $14.7 billion settlement with affected U.S. buyers of those cars. Volkswagen paid out another $1.2 billion to American dealerships before the company settled things in December with diesel owners in Canada.

Dr. Hohmann-Dennhardt was appointed to Volkswagen AG’s management board with a central responsibility for its “integrity and legal affairs” on January 1, 2016. The supervisory board named Hiltrud Werner, head of group auditing, as Hohmann-Dennhardt’s replacement.

“Volkswagen will continue to press forward with changes to its way of thinking and working. The Group has substantially elevated its commitment to working ethically and with integrity and is decentralizing its organization,” the company stated.

[Image: Volkswagen Group]