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Probe into board widens

Posted on 19 June, 2016

An unnamed member of Volkswagen Group’s management board is the subject of a criminal investigation. The prosecutor’s office in Brunswick, Germany, is refusing to name the individual, but he joins former chief executive Martin Winterkorn as part of the enquiry into market manipulation relating to the diesel-emissions scandal. There are “sufficient real signs” that VW’s duty to disclose the financial damage of its manipulations may have been prior to September 22, 2015, when the carmaker admitted guilt. The maximum sentence for both Winterkorn and this second top executive is up to five years in prison. There are hundreds of lawsuits against VW still pending, with an $18.4 billion budget set aside by Europe’s largest automaker. Winterkorn resigned as CEO last September.