Paris:
German automaker Volkswagen mentioned Wednesday that it has been charged in France more than alleged cheating on emissions testing, as its former CEO was accused in Berlin of creating false statements more than the “dieselgate” scandal.
In a statement a day just after French rival Renault announced it had also been charged in the inquiry, Volkswagen denied causing any “harm” to French customers.
A supply close to the investigation mentioned it had been charged last month with “deceit over substantial qualities of a product, resulting in a danger for human and animal health.”
A court has ordered it to post 10 million euros ($12.2 million) in bail as properly as a bank assure of 60 million euros — the very same expected of Renault — to cover possible compensation payouts, the supply mentioned.
The scandal erupted in 2015 when a US investigation revealed that Volkswagen had equipped about 11 million automobiles with devices capable of making fake carbon dioxide emission readings in the course of tests, even although actual emissions could be up to 40 instances larger.
The firm later admitted to the trickery, dealing a huge blow to its reputation for strong engineering and properly-constructed, higher-efficiency automobiles.
Fines, legal charges and car refits and recalls have currently expense the firm some 32 billion euros.
France’s Peugeot, now component of the Stellantis group following its merger with Fiat Chrysler, is also below investigation more than suspected emissions cheating.
The French inquiry was delayed even though authorities waited for a definitive ruling on the illegality of working with the test-manipulating technologies from the European Court of Justice, which handed down its choice in April 2020.
Penalised twice?
French fraud investigators determined that Volkswagen sold almost 950,000 diesels with the masking devices in France, creating sales of almost 23 billion euros.
Consumer groups have assailed Volkswagen and other implicated automakers for promoting vehicles that performed significantly worse in terms of emissions than they have been led to think.
But in its statement, Volkswagen mentioned a German court ruling in 2018, which led to a one-billion-euro fine more than comparable charges, had currently taken into account the vehicles sold in France.
“For Volkswagen, the actions under investigation in France are included and identical to those already concluded in Germany, but the judges told us that they had to investigate further before making a final decision,” a lawyer for the automaker, Nicolas Huc-Morel, told AFP.
Volkswagen has currently challenged this choice with a Paris appeals court, which has but to take up the case.
The French charges came the very same day that Volkswagen’s former chief Martin Winterkorn was charged by Berlin prosecutors more than alleged false statements to a parliamentary panel more than the scandal.
Winterkorn, who resigned a week just after the diesel scandal broke, has agreed to repay the firm about 11 million euros in damages and interest, sources mentioned Sunday.
He along with 4 other ex-Volkswagen colleagues are due to go on trial collectively in Germany in September on charges of organised industrial fraud and tax evasion.
The firm has insisted that the cheating was the work of reduced-level staff, but German media reports say it intends to seek a total of more than a billion euros in damages from its former executives.
Renault’s denial
Renault, for its component, denied on Tuesday “having committed any offence” and mentioned its automobiles do not have “any rigging software for pollution control devices.”
But fraud investigators who started searching into the allegations in 2017 accused Renault’s best managers, which includes longtime chief Carlos Ghosn, of working with or figuring out about “fraudulent strategies” to falsify emission test benefits considering that 1990.
Ghosn, who fled to Lebanon in late 2019 to stay clear of charges of monetary misconduct in France and Japan, exactly where he led Renault’s alliance with Nissan, was questioned by French magistrates in Beirut.
But Ghosn was heard only as a witness, and would need to have to be in France to be formally indicted.
Consumer groups have assailed the implicated automakers for promoting vehicles that performed significantly worse in terms of emissions than they have been led to think.
“Dieselgate” also became a important issue in pushing the European Parliament to adopt legislation last November that will open the door to US-style class action lawsuits against businesses accused of widescale fraud or other crimes.
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