In the VW bugging affair there is a dramatic twist. According to one Report of the Wolfsburger Nachrichten A VW employee whose home was arson attacked in May was found dead in a burned-out car on Wednesday. The body was discovered in a car in the village of Rottorf (Helmstedt district). According to information from the newspaper, the dead person is the VW employee, who is considered a suspect in the Prevent wiretapping affair.
A spokeswoman for the Braunschweig public prosecutor expressed herself reluctantly to the newspaper. “The autopsy result is now partially available. On the body of the corpse found in the vehicle, no evidence of an external influence could be found,” she said. The body has not yet been identified with certainty. She cannot provide any further information yet.
A spokeswoman for the Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office had only confirmed on Monday that there was a possible connection between the arson attack on the house in May and the VW bugging affair. “A possible connection to the fire proceedings will be examined by us”, it was said with a view to parallel ongoing investigations to secretly recorded conversations, how the unpopular supplier should be dealt with. This should be a senior Volkswagen employees in 2017 and 2018 – The car manufacturer then filed a criminal complaint.
VW announced: “Volkswagen does not have any confirmed information. As before, we do not comment on the proceedings against the released employee, but refer to the ongoing investigations by the Braunschweig public prosecutor.”
VW wanted to “control” Prevent – bitter dispute with the Hastor family
Officially, the Braunschweig public prosecutors investigated the case of the intercepted Prevent consultations against unknown persons. Volkswagen and Prevent have been in a bitter clinch for years. The auto supplier controlled by the Bosnian entrepreneurial family Hastor had temporarily suspended the supply of gearbox housings and seat covers in 2016, which forced VW to an expensive production stop for several days at the main plant in Wolfsburg and at other locations. The trigger was a heated argument about prices and delivery conditions. There were similar conflicts in several other countries, and Prevent also fought with other car manufacturers.
The wiretapping, which was recently announced, involved confidential audio material from a VW working group. Before the group terminated all contracts with Prevent in March 2018, company representatives are said to have discussed whether and how the supplier could be “controlled”, as it is called in the industry jargon. VW wants to hold back with statements as long as public prosecutor investigations are ongoing. But it is already certain: “Volkswagen was the victim of an illegal wiretapping attack.”
Prevent in turn had no knowledge of the recordings, a spokesman for the group said. One was certainly not involved in their creation and now see themselves damaged, which is why legal steps are being examined. In the past, the company had accused VW of having shadowed and spied on employees by order.