Volkswagen pleads guilty and will pay $4.3 billion to settle with the US Department of Justice (DoJ), bringing the total cost of this fraud to $20 billion. Six high-ranking executives have been indicted by the DoJ and the former US Head of Compliance, Oliver Schmidt, has been arrested in the US. It shows the willingness of the DoJ to target individuals in a corporate crime prosecutions.
Meanwhile in Europe…
The European commission has launched infringement procedures against 7 Members States on the 8 December 2016. The European Commission has addressed letters of formal notice to Czech Republic, Greece and Lithuania for failing to set penalties system into their national law. Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and the UK are accused of not applying their national penalties against VW for its illegal device software. Member States have now two months to answer to the European Commission.
For its part, the European Parliament (Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurement in the Automotive sector) concluded, in a draft report launched on 19 December 2016 that the European Commission knew since 2005 that some diesel engines placed on the market in Europe were more polluting than what the carmakers declared. The report also reveals that from 2011, the Commission was aware of the fact that the laboratory measurements could be biased. The Committee underlined that because of the lack of oversight of the vehicle type-approval system, EU emissions legislation were subject to a variety of interpretations by the Member States and some of them did not enforce EU emissions legislation properly.
Although the car owners will be the first to benefit from redress, they are not the only ones affected by this fraud. In order to obtain redress for abused investors, BETTER FINANCE decided to join the Stichting Volkswagen Investors' Claim. To join this legal action and to stay informed, you can register with BETTER FINANCE who will put all Volkswagen Investors in touch with DSW and the Stichting Volkswagen Investors' Claim.
Calling on all VW investors - Volkswagen Investor Claims: Registration
Read the Financial Times article here
Read European Commission Press release here
Read Le monde ( in French) article here
Read the Draft report- European Parliament here
Read the Press release European Parliament here