Audi boss arrested in diesel probe

FRANKFURT - Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler was arrested on Monday in connection with parent company Volkswagen's "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal, with prosecutors saying they feared he might try to suppress evidence.

The dramatic development came a week after Munich prosecutors raided Stadler's home after charging him with fraud and falsifying documents that allowed diesel vehicles equipped with cheating software to be sold to European customers.

Four police officers detained the Audi boss at his home, a spokesman for Munich prosecutors said, saying that the arrest was justified as he is suspected of "seeking to influence witnesses or other suspects".

Stadler has denied the accusations and has said he is ready to be interrogated.

Hours after the arrest, the VW group's management named Dutchman Bram Schot, who joined VW in 2011, to take over from Stadler as interim CEO.

Stadler is the most senior executive yet to be detained in the scandal, which started when the group admitted in 2015 to installing so - called "defeat devices" in some 11 million diesels worldwide that made them seem less polluting in lab tests than they actually were on the road.

The affected vehicles involved VW's own-brand cars, but also those made by Audi, Porsche, Skoda and Seat.

VW's luxury subsidiary Audi has long faced suspicions that its engineers helped create the software used in the scam.

Stadler's arrest is the latest blow to the Volkswagen group, which has struggled to shake off the dieselgate crisis and continues to face a litany of investigations at home and abroad.

Audi's former head of engine development, Wolfgang Hatz, was taken into custody in Germany in September and remains behind bars.

A manager at Porsche was also detained in April. He was identified by German media as Joerg Kerner, an engineer in charge of Porsche's engine division who was working at Audi when the diesel scandal broke.

Two former VW chief executives - Martin Winterkorn and his successor Matthias Mueller - have both landed in the sights of German prosecutors.

They are suspected of knowing earlier than they have admitted about the cheating, meaning they may have failed in their duty to inform investors in the car giant about the financial risks.

US prosecutors also indicted Winterkorn last month, saying he knew of the company's emissions cheating as early as May 2014 but decided to continue. Current boss Herbert Diess has also been accused of knowing about the scam before it became public - an allegation rejected by the firm last month.

Afp - Reuters

(China Daily 06/20/2018 page12)