DETROIT—A federal grand jury in Detroit has indicted former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn on charges stemming from the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal in a plot that prosecutors allege reached the top of the world’s largest automaker. Prosecutors in the city of Braunschweig said in January of 2017 that Winterkorn was among 37 suspects being investigated in a criminal probe related to the emissions scandal. According to prosecutors, Bernd Gottweis, senior VW manager then responsible for product safety, met with engine development employees and learned about the ICCT study. The memo was attached to a cover note authored by another senior executive and was addressed to Winterkorn, prosecutors allege. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined in 2015 that Volkswagen manipulated software so that diesel emissions controls worked only when cars were on test stands.

Source: thestar May 04, 2018 16:30 UTC