Herbert Diess apparently in spite of the smoldering diesel scandal in the USA traveling without fear of being arrested. That reports Bloomberg citing two persons familiar with the case.
Investigators therefore assured Diess to inform him in advance should the prosecutor sue him in connection with the investigation of emissions abuses, the persons who requested anonymity said the agreement was confidential.
Prosecutors could hope for statement from Diess
The manager had switched to VW just before the diesel scandal came to the public. So far, no misconduct has been blamed in connection with the affair. Volkswagen and the US Department of Justice did not want to comment on the special scheme for Diess.
Background of the “free escort” could be that the prosecutors of a statement of Diess as witnesses hope for information about the background of the affair. Also, lawyers of suspects are sometimes given the opportunity to present their view of things before deciding on an indictment.
However, it would only very rarely happen that prosecutors – as in this case – provide a lump sum of free escort. It is also rare, someone who is located outside the country and therefore difficult to extradite, to warn about impending legal action, it said at Bloomberg on.
This at VW meeting too inflated emissions
One explanation for this is that while the Justice Department is still investigating, it has already established that this is unlikely to be prosecuted, says Michael Koenig, a former federal prosecutor who now works for Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP.
Diess has spent more than two decades in the German automotive industry, including the Robert Bosch GmbH and BMW AG. As a new employee at VW Diess on 27 July 2015 in Wolfsburg participated in the so-called “damage table”. VW had already acknowledged in 2016 that senior management was explaining the problems with excessive emissions in the US.
This session was the key moment of a conspiracy – one in which Martin Winterkorn “authorized the continued concealment of the fraud software from the US regulators,” the US prosecutors write in the indictment against the former CEO. Since Diess attended this meeting, he knew what Winterkorn and others said at the meeting.
It is unclear what Diess said at the meeting in question. According to the informed persons, this did not play any role in the investigation and the indictment of Winterkorn in the USA.
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