Frankfurt Hans Dieter Pötsch exercises in composure. While around him the bustle of International Motor Show (IAA) he lets his gaze wander over the booth of Volkswagen roam. Two of his closest associates are accompanied by the head of the carmaker’s supervisory board.
There are many journalists on this day of the fair; The employees shield Pötsch from too many questions. But one thing is allowed: what he intends to do, should the prosecutor Braunschweig against him prosecution for suspected market manipulation Collect? Whether it comes to that, so his answer, is speculation. In addition, all internal investigations had shown that nothing was against him.
The prosecutors investigate whether Volkswagen informed its shareholders too late about the emissions fraud and the resulting financial risks. The investigations are directed next to Pötsch against the incumbent VW boss Herbert dies and its predecessor Martin Winterkorn, Only four days after the scandal was made public by the US Environmental Protection Agency on September 18, 2015, the company had admitted the fraud.
The stock price had already collapsed in anticipation of high penalties. The followed then in reality: So far, Volkswagen has to pay according to their own information about 30 billion euros for the processing of the exhaust gas fraud. This gigantic amount now occupies the prosecutor Braunschweig.
Over the past few months, investigators have been struggling through mountains of files to find relief and relief against the three men. At the end of September, in a matter of days, they want to complete their work and then decide whether to file an indictment, as Attorney General Klaus Ziehe recently said. The question would then also be against whom the three managers would take the authority.
In the meantime, insiders consider a delay in the indictment conceivable. The reason for this are problems in another case: In a parallel proceedings for alleged fraud, the district court Braunschweig had demanded according to a “Bild” report further information from the prosecutor, because an indictment against Winterkorn should not be sufficiently justified.
The two cases should be treated completely independently of each other. In the charges against Winterkorn the investigators accuse him of a concrete knowledge about the exhaust gas fraud. In the case against Pötsch, Diess and Winterkorn, the point is that the top executives are supposed to keep the size of the scandal from the shareholders.
Volkswagen expects an indictment
Even if Pötsch at his IAA-Rounder has shown, in the company, the decision makers are already prepared for the worst case scenario. “We reckon that charges will be brought against all three,” it said in circles of top management and the supervisory board.
Even then Diess, Pötsch and Winterkorn would initially only be considered accused – they would become defendants only at the moment when the court also accepts the lawsuit. Hardly anyone in the group has doubts about that. “Public pressure is already too high for that,” complains a senior executive who is familiar with the case.
The way into the courtroom seems to be inevitable. For the first time in West German history, the chairmen of the supervisory board and executive board of a major corporation were dragged to the kadi together with Diess and Pötsch. The case would be comparable to that of top executives about the case German bank where only members of a panel had been charged.
The victims themselves and also the responsible parties in the company are reported to count on acquittals, should the prosecution once come to court. Neither Diess nor Pötsch would therefore have the intention to give up their current posts, reported several people from the top executive bodies Handelsblatt.
In addition, the presumption of innocence would apply to the top managers as well as to everyone else. “Only with a final conviction this would change,” said a high-ranking source.
At least in the case of Pötsch, this had sounded different a few months ago. In the small circle he had stated then that he would concentrate fully on his defense in an indictment. In addition, a supervisory board adds, he is as supervisory board chairman the supreme inspector of the Volkswagen group. Especially the view of the billionaire “Dieselgate” shows how important this function actually is.
Pötsch wants to stay now. The pressure from the circle of owners may have contributed to his change of heart. Neither the family Porsche / Piëch nor the state of Lower Saxony as the largest shareholders would have an interest in the fact that Pötsch resigns, it was said.
The loyalty to the former CFO has a simple reason: “At the moment he is the only one who can reasonably organize contact with the families”, it said in the ranks of the management. Pötsch is therefore irreplaceable. He organizes in this probably most difficult supervisory board of a DAX company the necessary majorities, in order to master the restructuring of the group and the processing of the exhaust gas scandal.
Diess and Pötsch are considered “irreplaceable” in the Group
Also many see this as irreplaceable on the supervisory board. The CEO, who has been in office for almost one and a half years, is to handle the ongoing restructuring of the Group. A change to the current time would not be there, it said from the panel. Volkswagen is currently switching its production of burners to electric cars, which will cost tens of billions of dollars.
The Group does not leave the slightest doubt about its position: Billions of heavy penalties would have been classified by the consulting lawyers as unlikely, said Volkswagen. “We thought the affair could be cleaned up with an amount of 100 million euros,” recalled an insider in retrospect. A mandatory notification to investors would not have been necessary on this scale.
In the investigation documents, however, there are indications that the parties knew already in July and thus early on the impending disaster. Also evidence that a billion-dollar penalty could threaten, can be found in the documents.
At the moment, according to insiders, the ranks in the company are tight. Diess and Pötsch could remain in office, explained a supervisory board. However, this statement applies with restrictions, since many interests are reflected in the Supervisory Board. The position of the Porsche / Piëch family is the easiest. The superiors of the clan are loyal to Pötsch, they said. This also applies to the powerful works council, the peace in the group wanted.
It gets more complicated with the state of Lower Saxony, with Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) and Economics Minister Bernd Althusmann (CDU) has two representatives on the Supervisory Board. It is foreseeable that there will be a public outcry as soon as the indictment is filed. As politicians, the two would be particularly in the focus of criticism. Several times they had in the state parliament of the opposition speech and answer in terms of diesel gate must be.
Weil and Althusmann would demand no replacement of the two managers, despite the public debate, it was said. However, according to VW insiders, Weil and Althusmann are also political rivals despite their governing coalition. Should there be a sustained media fire, then their position could change.
This could happen if the court would accept a possible charge. Then the question would also be in the room, how often the then accused would have to appear in the courtroom. This question applies above all to Diess, said a supervisory board. If his daily work were restricted too much, then his whereabouts would have to be considered, said several representatives from the management and supervisory boards. But still, this question does not arise.
More: The roles Herbert Diess, Martin Winterkorn and Hans Dieter Pötsch played in the diesel scandal are not yet clear. Now the prosecutor investigates.