Former VW Boss Claims No Prior Knowledge of Diesel Cheating

Martin Winterkorn, who resigned from his post as Volkswagen CEO days after the diesel scandal broke, told German lawmakers he had no prior knowledge of emissions cheating.

At a parliamentary committee meeting today in Berlin, Winterkorn testified he learned of deceptive emissions software no earlier than the time VW fessed up to it. But he refused to elaborate on when exactly he found out, given that the matter is still under investigation by German prosecutors.

Officials also asked Winterkorn whether he thought the blame rested on the shoulders of a few engineers. He replied by saying more than a few staffers knew, although he didn’t know exactly how many people were involved. Recently, six former VW employees from different sectors were indicted for wrongdoing in the diesel scandal.

When asked why he didn’t know of the problem sooner, Winterkorn said, “Software applications represent a very specific area of work in engine development.”

“From outside it is difficult to comprehend how something like this could happen at a company that is so much preoccupied with quality,” Winterkorn went on to say. “Even I don’t.”

Earlier this month, VW agreed to pay the largest ever criminal fine levied on an automaker in the U.S.  VW will spend up to $22 billion in the U.S. when you add up all the claims from U.S. regulators, states, dealers, and owners.

As the scandal began to unfold, Winterkorn was one of a number of VW officials that were put under the spotlight for potential criminal wrongdoing in dieselgate. But VW has said that top officials began learning of diesel cheating in late August 2015 and that it reported the issue to regulators in early September.

Source: Reuters

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