Pollution scam probe to take months: Volkswagen

AFP, FRANKFURT: Embattled auto giant Volkswagen said Thursday an investigation it has commissioned into its massive pollution cheating scandal would take several months, as Australia became the latest country to warn the company it could face huge fines. VW, which sparked global uproar when it admitted to fitting sophisticated software in its diesel engines to skew emission testing, has hired the US legal firm Jones Day to conduct an independent probe into the affair that has rocked the entire automobile sector. The steering committee of VW’s supervisory board was “of the opinion that the investigations will take several months before they can be completed,” it said in a statement. Given the time and personnel resources needed for the investigation, an extraordinary general meeting that was originally going to be held on November 9 would be postponed. In addition to VW’s own investigations, regulatory and legal probes are under way all over the world to pinpoint the masterminds behind the scam, which has plunged the auto group into its deepest-ever crisis and left it facing huge fines and a possible tidal wave of litigation. In the United States alone, VW could face up to $18 billion in fines.
And Australia’s competition watchdog said the German carmaker could be fined Aus$1.1 million (US$780,000) for each cheating device, potentially amounting to billions in costs—although a fine of such size would be unlikely.
Sweden’s finance minister Magdalena Andersson said she may send a tax bill to VW for undeclared pollution of its diesel vehicles, as cars sold in the Nordic country have a tax assessed depending on the amount of pollution they emit. Romania also warned VW of paying more taxes. Volkswagen has admitted that up to 11 million diesel cars worldwide are fitted with devices that can switch on pollution controls when they detect the car is undergoing testing. They then switch off the controls when the car is on the road, allowing it to spew out harmful levels of emissions. The revelations have hit VW’s share price hard, losing nearly 40 per cent in just 10 days. The German government has given VW until October 7 to explain how it will resolve the scandal.

Pollution scam probe to take months: Volkswagen

AFP, FRANKFURT: Embattled auto giant Volkswagen said Thursday an investigation it has commissioned into its massive pollution cheating scandal would take several months, as Australia became the latest country to warn the company it could face huge fines. VW, which sparked global uproar when it admitted to fitting sophisticated software in its diesel engines to skew emission testing, has hired the US legal firm Jones Day to conduct an independent probe into the affair that has rocked the entire automobile sector. The steering committee of VWs supervisory board was of the opinion that the investigations will take several months before they can be completed, it said in a statement. Given the time and personnel resources needed for the investigation, an extraordinary general meeting that was originally going to be held on November 9 would be postponed. In addition to VWs own investigations, regulatory and legal probes are under way all over the world to pinpoint the masterminds behind the scam, which has plunged the auto group into its deepest-ever crisis and left it facing huge fines and a possible tidal wave of litigation. In the United States alone, VW could face up to $18 billion in fines. And Australias competition watchdog said the German carmaker could be fined Aus$1.1 million (US$780,000) for each cheating device, potentially amounting to billions in costsalthough a fine of such size would be unlikely. Swedens finance minister Magdalena Andersson said she may send a tax bill to VW for undeclared pollution of its diesel vehicles, as cars sold in the Nordic country have a tax assessed depending on the amount of pollution they emit. Romania also warned VW of paying more taxes. Volkswagen has admitted that up to 11 million diesel cars worldwide are fitted with devices that can switch on pollution controls when they detect the car is undergoing testing. They then switch off the controls when the car is on the road, allowing it to spew out harmful levels of emissions. The revelations have hit VWs share price hard, losing nearly 40 per cent in just 10 days. The German government has given VW until October 7 to explain how it will resolve the scandal.