Prosecutor sees penance as “painful for VW”: where to go with the VW billion?

06/14/2018

Prosecutor sees penance as “painful for VW” Where to go with the VW billion?

DPA

Stephan Weil (SPD): The head of government of Lower Saxony sits in the VW Supervisory Board – and now expects a blessing for the state treasury

The prosecutor Braunschweig sees the responsibility for the diesel scandal at Volkswagen in the management and not just in a department. “It was not just a department of the company, it’s about the VW AG in total,” said prosecutor Klaus Ziehe the news agency Reuters on Thursday before a press conference in Brunswick.

Volkswagen had stated in its interpretation of the fine decision over a billion euros, according to the results of the investigators, there had been violations of duty in the department of aggregate development.

Ziehe countered with this: “We deliberately did not break it down so far, because we see the VW AG as a whole in the duty,” said the chief prosecutor. “We would never put a department on the pillory.” In the case of an administrative offense, it concerns the company and not individual persons.

Investigations against 49 persons at VW are continued

Ziehe reiterated that the criminal investigation against currently a total of 49 people at Volkswagen would be continued. In the summer, the lawyers should be granted access to the file on suspicion of exhaust gas fraud as well as market manipulation. In the investigation of market manipulation, a decision as to whether or not an indictment was made is conceivable this year. In the case of exhaust fraud, this is not excluded, “but not overwhelmingly likely,” said Ziehe.

Investigator: “Fine is painful for VW”

The fine of one billion in the diesel affair, the prosecutor assessed as painful for Volkswagen. “A thousand million euros for an administrative offense is already an announcement and I assume that this is of course painful,” said Ziehe. “If we had the feeling that this would lead to a general laugh and a transfer from the petty cash, we would have determined a different amount,” he added.

The fine was imposed on Wednesday, because the prosecutors see “breaches of supervisory duties” in the Group occupied. The amount consists of the maximum legal amount of EUR 5 million and a reduction of economic benefits totaling EUR 995 million.

Ziehe was satisfied with the result after more than two years of investigation. To his knowledge, this is the highest fine ever imposed on a company in the history of the Federal Republic. The money must be paid according to prosecutors within six weeks to the state of Lower Saxony. VW had announced to waive appeal.

Blessings for Lower Saxony

The billion dollar fine inflicted on Volkswagen in the diesel affair sweeps Niedersachsen an unexpected blessing in the state treasury. “The state government will submit a proposal on the use of funds in the context of budgetary discussions,” the red-black state government said in a statement on Thursday. The budget consultants will be in the coming weeks.

Prime Minister Stephan Weil and his deputy, Minister of Economic Affairs Bernd Althusmann – both representatives of the state government in the supervisory board of Volkswagen – welcomed the recognition of the fine by Volkswagen. The corporation thus acknowledges its responsibility, both emphasized.

The fine should be transferred to the Landeshauptkasse within six weeks. The concrete effects on the state budget are currently being examined. According to this information, however, the revenues do not count as revenues which have to be taken into account for the Länder financial equalization.

In the current budget 2018, the Ministry of Finance in Hanover according to own data so far revenue of approximately 350 million euro by court costs, fines and similar payments with the higher regional courts assigned.

Money for Lower Saxony – or for the most part in Länder-Finanzausgleich?

The use of billions imposed by the prosecutor Braunschweig against Volkswagen boosts the imagination of the Greens in the country. “We have just a lively debate about it,” said former Lower Saxony Minister of the Environment and Member of Parliament Stefan Wenzel on Thursday in Hannover. He doubts that the money will flow into the state funds in full.

“If it comes to an additional income of the country, it should flow into the country-financial equalization, mathematically, then ten percent might be left behind,” says Wenzel.

la / dpa / Reuters

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