Herbert dies
If there is an indictment against him, it would leave more than just scratches on his person.
(Photo: imago images / Sven Simon)
Dusseldorf The step of the authority surprised everyone in the Volkswagen Group, And he marked the blackest hour in the history of the car manufacturer. It was the 9/18/2015, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had the manipulation of emissions values through VW made public. The rest is known. Billions of dollars that were destroyed by the collapse of the stock price. Millions of cars lost in value.
Hundreds of thousands of claims for damages. Prosecutor investigations in the dozen. An indictment for fraud against five managers of the group. And if the biggest scandal in German car history is about to happen for the fourth time in about two weeks, Braunschweig prosecutors could give VW another black hour.
Only the group would be less surprised this time, but the time frame is now clearly set. “We are expected to close the preliminary investigation into market manipulation against three accused in connection with the diesel scandal at the end of September,” said prosecutor Klaus Ziehe to the Handelsblatt on request.
Specifically: This month it is clear whether the prosecutor against the current VW boss Herbert dies, Chairman of the Supervisory Board Hans Dieter Pötsch and respectively or ex-group boss Martin Winterkorn Charge or not.
Against all three the authority determines because they may have informed investors too late about the emissions fraud and the associated financial consequences. Only on 22.9.2015, four days after the publication of the EPA VW confessed the fraud publicly. The stock market had long ago burned tens of billions of dollars.
There were longer indications of the fraud, which also reached into the VW tip. Findings recorded in the investigation files suggest that Diess, Pötsch and Winterkorn knew about the manipulations well before the official announcement. On July 27, the illegal exhaust control software was the subject of an internal meeting attended by Diess and Winterkorn.
Billion penalties as a topic
There are also threatening, high sentences have been addressed. 600,000 vehicles were gone, and Worst Case are just “this $ 37,500 per vehicle,” a senior employee later told the prosecutors. When asked if he was actually talking about billions in numbers, he answered: “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.” Later, VW paid in the United States more than $ 20 billion.
VW rejects the allegations against the three managers, however. The line of defense is clear: billion-heavy penalties were considered unlikely. And in the following weeks, it was expected to reach an agreement with the US authorities – so no reason to inform investors.
“I am of the opinion that the allegations against me are unfounded”, Diess recently commented accordingly. In addition: He was only in July 2015 by BMW transferred to Volkswagen, took over there the post of the brand executive committee. In this respect, he is likely to have the best cards from the trio to escape prosecution anyway.
The group is still afraid of being charged with Diess and Pötsch. Believing in internal voices also has to do with the fear that prosecutors could charge even if they are not completely convinced that they have enough in their hands, at least in the case of Das.
The whole thing has a political dimension. Would the investigators, for example, accuse ex-chief Winterkorn, but not the current responsible Diess and Pötsch, it could mean that this was politically not wanted.
After all, the employer of the prosecution, the state of Lower Saxony, one of the major shareholders of VW, which can actually have no interest in a possible lawsuit against Diess and Pötsch with dozens of negotiating days could paralyze the company.
In particular, the management of the authorities could therefore have an interest in an indictment, even if the clerks are not completely convinced, so the fear. The prosecution has such mind games of itself. “Such speculations take place in a vacuum,” comments her spokesman Klaus Ziehe.
“The decision on an indictment is always and exclusively made on the basis of the evidence at the end of the investigation and the consequent affirmation or denial of sufficient suspicion. So in this case. “If it comes to an indictment of Diess, this would leave more than just scratches on his person. The question of whether the group continues to cling to him, would be inevitable. Officially, VW does not want to comment on this. But if you listen to Wolfsburg, it means that you want to stick to Diess even then.
It would meanwhile be another question louder: Was it short-sighted to install him as CEO? For Diess did not succeed Matthias Müller until April 2018. At this time, the prosecutors have been against him for 22 months.