Raids aimed at finding ‘secure documents and data carriers’ that could identify VW staff involved in manipulating diesel emissions tests

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Police have raided Volkswagen’s headquarters in Germany as part of an investigation into the diesel emissions scandal that has rocked the company.

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The raids were aimed at finding “secure documents and data carriers” that could identify VW staff involved in manipulating diesel emissions tests, prosecutors in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, said in a statement.

The searches came as Michael Horn, the US boss of VW, appears in front of US Congress for what is expected to be a fiery question and answer session.

VW has admitted fitting 11m vehicles with so-called “defeat devices” to cheat diesel emissions tests. The company has suspended four employees, including three who had responsibility for engine development, and hired law firm Jones Day to lead an investigation.

The German prosecutors said: “Today, in connection with the so-called emissions scandal, raids were carried out at Volkswagen in Wolfsburg and other locations.

“The raids aimed to secure documents and data carriers that, in view of possible offences, can provide information about the exact conduct of company employees and their identities in the manipulation of exhaust emissions of diesel vehicles.”

The prosecutors had already confirmed they were investigating VW and individuals over the scandal, after receiving dozens of complaints including one from the company itself.

Sigmar Gabriel, the vice-chancellor of Germany and also the economy minister, visited VW’s base in Wolfsburg on Thursday to address staff.

“I think it is important to send the message that, in the end, the employees must not pay the price for criminal behaviour by managers,” he told workers.

The company’s US boss is likely to receive heavy criticism when he appears in front of Congress’s energy and commerce committee, similar to that previously dished out to Akio Toyoda, the boss of Toyota, over safety problems with accelerator pedals and Tony Hayward, the former BP boss, after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blowout.

The congressional hearing will also question Phillip Brooks, the director of the air enforcement division at the Environmental Protection Agency, the organisation that made the allegations against VW, and Christopher Grundler, part of the EPA’s transportation and air quality arm.

The scandal began last month when the EPA ordered the recall of 482,000 VW vehicles because the company had fitted them with software to cheat emissions tests. VW subsequently admitted that it fitted the defeat device to 11m cars worldwide and has put aside €6.5bn (£4.8bn) to meet the cost of fixing them so they meet environmental standards.

The company faces a fine of up to $18bn from US regulators as well as legal claims from customers and shareholders. Analysts at UBS have warned the scandal could eventually cost VW up to €35bn.

In a further blow to the crisis-hit German company, the influential US Senate finance committee said on Wednesday it was investigating whether VW used the defeat devices to benefit from $50m of tax credits on diesel cars sold in the US.

VW and the buyers of its diesel cars benefited from more than $50m in subsidies in the belief the vehicles caused less pollution then they actually did.

In a letter sent to VW, Orrin Hatch, chairman of the committee, said the use of the defeat devices to manipulate tests means the company may have made false representations to the US government in securing the tax incentives.

Meanwhile, VW has appointed Hans Dieter Pötsch, its former finance director, as chairman of the supervisory board – despite calls from stakeholders for an external figure to be appointed chairman.

The company was due to submit its plan to fix vehicles involved in the scandal to regulators in Germany on Wednesday. However, VW motorists remain in the dark about what will happen to their cars.