FILE PHOTO: Herbert Diess, CEO of German carmaker Volkswagen AG, gestures in front of an ID.3 pre-production prototype during the presentation of Volkswagen's new electric car on the eve of the International Frankfurt Motor Show IAA in Frankfurt, Germany September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen's VOWG_p.DE Herbert Diess will keep his role as the carmaker's chief executive and continue to defend himself with all legal means after prosecutors indicted him in connection to an emissions cheating scandal, his lawyers said on Tuesday.

German prosecutors brought criminal charges of stock market manipulation against Herbert Diess, former CEO Martin Winterkorn and Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch.

Diess only joined the firm in July 2015 and it was not foreseeable for him that diesel issues would have financial consequences that were relevant for the capital market, the attorneys said.