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German Prosecutors Charge More VW Employees in Diesel Probe

German Prosecutors Charge More VW Employees in Diesel Probe

(Bloomberg) --

German prosecutors charged another six Volkswagen AG executives over their alleged involvement in the large-scale diesel-car engine manipulations, a fresh setback for the manufacturer’s effort to draw a line under the scandal that erupted just over four years ago.

The unidentified managers and engineers were indicted on charges they engaged in fraud, forgery and tax evasion between 2006 and 2015, prosecutors in the city of Braunschweig said Tuesday in an emailed statement. About 9 million diesel cars equipped with illegal software have been sold in Europe and the U.S. as a result, they said.

“The accused were decisively responsible for tricking authorities and customers in Europe and the U.S. into believing that diesel cars would meet pollution limits which in fact they nowhere near did,” prosecutors’ spokesman Klaus Ziehe said.

VW declined to comment on the indictments against the individuals. The carmaker settled the part of the Braunschweig probe targeting the company in 2018 by paying 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion).

The widened investigation further undermines VW’s long-standing claim that the engine rigging was done by a small number of rogue engineers and top management wasn’t aware of the illicit conduct. The scandal has cost the world’s largest automaker about 30 billion euros so far and legal proceedings from disgruntled investors and customers are poised to drag on for years.

Three of the accused were managers. The three other, charged only with aiding in the crimes, helped develop the software and later refined it, according to the statement.

Prosecutors in Braunschweig have now charged 11 people and are investigating another 32. Prosecutors in Munich and Stuttgart are also looking into who knew about VW’s engine manipulation.

To contact the reporters on this story: Christoph Rauwald in Frankfurt at crauwald@bloomberg.net;Karin Matussek in Berlin at kmatussek@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser

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