Ex-VW boss Martin Winterkorn
The former car manager wanted to save millions to Switzerland.
(Photo: AP)
Zurich, Düsseldorf is the classic behavioral pattern of men who do not do good. “Asset protection” tax specialists call such transfers, as they Martin Winterkorn in the past two years. The “Picture on Sunday” reported from investigation filesthat the former chairman of Volkswagen 2016 and 2017 each high millions of his accounts at the Sparda Bank Nuremberg in the Switzerland About pointed.
“Nest egg,” noted a prosecutor in a note. Winterkorn’s lawyer Felix Dörr hastened to the newspaper with the remark that Winterkorn’s tax consultants have examined the process and found to be tax-correct. Only the prosecutor does not like to follow this unchecked.
Winterkorn just did not transfer money like that. After the millions left their German accounts, they parked on a trust account of Winterkorn’s accountants. Then the money continued to flow on depots of Vontobel Bank in Zurich, one of which should be assigned to Winterkorn’s wife.
Ex-VW CEO: prosecutor investigates for controversial transfers by Martin Winterkorn
According to “Bild am Sonntag”, the investigators suspect that the transfer could at least partially mean a gift of Winterkorn to his wife. The due gift tax of around 500,000 euros had not been paid, so the investigation.
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The prosecutor Braunschweig did not want to comment on the case according to the report before completing their work and was also on Sunday not to reach for inquiries. A spokesman for Bank Vontobel told the Handelsblatt that the bank “naturally adhered to the applicable legal requirements.
Due to the Swiss banking secrets, we can neither confirm nor deny any customer relations. “Winterkorn’s lawyer is quoted in the” Bild am Sonntag “as saying that his client is” completely free in the disposal of his assets. It is his decision how and by whom he manages his fortune. “
This is unquestionably correct. At the same time applies to Winterkorn but what is true for everyone else: Whether he pays taxes, he can not decide freely. The longtime CEO of Volkswagen retired in September 2015 after it became known that the company had made millions of manipulations on its diesel engines to fool customers, policy and environmental auditors.
According to reports of tax evasion: Winterkorn lawyer is considering criminal charges against prosecutors
The crisis cost his employer already more than 20 billion euros, threatening huge sums of money. And although Winterkorn denied any knowledge of the tampering and the Volkswagen Supervisory Board publicly accepted this, the prosecutor has been investigating Braunschweig since January 2017 against him on suspicion of fraud and criminal competition.
It is this background before which Winterkorn transferred his millions to a trust account of his tax adviser, who forwarded them to Swiss depots, where they could at least be tapped in parts by Winterkorn’s wife. Publicly pilloried and in the focus of lawyers and investigators of all kinds, Winterkorn moved his money behind veils that had already used many other suspects before him: fiduciary accounts, nameless deposits and Swiss banking secrecy.
And even if Winterkorn’s right to store his fortune anywhere in the world, his behavior is skeptical. Observers of the diesel affair expect practically every day that Volkswagen sued his former boss for damages. The damage is evident and huge. Did Winterkorn want to save the millions who are now in Switzerland from such claims?
The thesis that Winterkorn learned of the manipulations of the diesel engines shortly before his resignation in September 2015 is, at any rate, more fragile today than ever. At the weekend the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported on the statement of Winterkorn’s former foster father Ferdinand Piech. At the end of 2016, he reported to the prosecutor’s office that it was unimaginable for him that Winterkorn had heard nothing of the millionfold “shit” as Piech called him “. Finally, Winterkorn is known for knowing every wheel bolt on VW’s cars.
Piech himself wants to know about the scandal in early 2015. An informant had referred him to a letter from a US agency in the spring of 2014, in which they demanded from Volkswagen to end the fraud. Piech describes how he confronted Winterkorn, who denied that such a letter existed.
The letter itself has not appeared, but also the Handelsblatt reported on a letter from the head of quality assurance of VW, the Winterkorn in May 2014 informed of the impending debacle in the United States. It ended with the promise: “I will inform you about the further developments and the discussions with the authorities.”
The letter should then have landed in Winterkorn’s “weekend bag” – the container for everything important, which worked the VW boss then between Friday evening and Monday morning. Winterkorn’s confidants explain his inaction regarding the diesel affair, saying that the CEO may not have read the letter. The last thin branch on which winter grain hangs.
Now the investigators have also found his nest egg. The fact that this is still public, for Winterkorn’s lawyer reason for new investigations – against the prosecutor. “We are considering bringing criminal charges for the misappropriation of official secrets,” said Felix Dörr on Sunday the news agency dpa, Information on personal financial circumstances and tax issues had nothing to look for in the file for exhaust gas investigations. Dörr: “The prosecutor Braunschweig must explain to me the deeper meaning of the procedure.”
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