Skip to main content

VW Fires Back at Munich Prosecutors Following Raid

Volkswagen has said that it will take “every action” at its disposal against prosecutors who searched Jones Day.

Earlier this week, we read that a team of investigators from the Munich prosecutor’s office (among others) had conducted a raid of Audi’s two largest factories as well as a number offices and private residences associated with both VW and Audi.

Controversially, though, the raids also targeted Jones Day, the law firm that VW tasked with conducting an internal investigation of the dieselgate scandal.

Jones Day’s investigation exonerated members of VW’s management board, but did find wrongdoing by some high ranking officials. A summary of the investigation was handed over to US Department of Justice, but VW never published the full findings of the investigation.

VW has stated that it views the raid as a “clear breach of the principles of the rule of law laid down in the Code of Criminal Procedure,” according to a press release published on March 16.

In northern German Federal states prosecutors aren’t allowed to conduct searches of law firms, but there is no German-wide ruling on the matter, so there’s a grey zone there that the prosecutors’ offices could use to their advantage, according to Werner Beulke, a legal scholar who spoke to Automotive News.

Beulke also explained that Jones Day’s investigation may potentially not fall under the protection of client attorney privilege because there is a bit of interpretation to do when a law firm isn’t formally tasked with representing a particular individual.

Volkswagen, though, feels that precedent is behind it. Raiding a law firm breeches the rule of law, says VW, “this been expressly confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court in the case of another law firm.”

The post VW Fires Back at Munich Prosecutors Following Raid appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2mDXG1P
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan

Filed under: Government/Legal , Green , Mitsubishi , Fuel Efficiency , Japan Mitsubishi says its shady fuel-economy test practices may have been used on all vehicles it sells and has sold in Japan. Continue reading Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 May 2016 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments from Autoblog Volkswagen http://ift.tt/21X3bHv
Post a Comment
Read more

More 3.0-Liter TDI Settlement Details Expected by January 31

Volkswagen and the TDI Plaintiff’s Steering Committee were in court today for another status conference following the agreement in principal reached earlier this week. Little new information was given at the conference held before Judge Charles Breyer today, but the court ordered the parties to develop a formal settlement agreement, class action notices, and a class notice plan by January 31, 2017. For now, though, owners still don’t know how much to expect in compensation. Elizabeth Cabraser, lead Counsel for the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee reaffirmed in a statement today that the compensation would be “substantial.” The potential cost to Volkswagen is widely reported to exceed $1 billion, though, with an additional $225 million going into an environmental trust to help offset excess emissions. Buy back offers are still only expected for the oldest 20,000 of the roughly 80,000 VW Group vehicles sold in America with the 3.0-liter TDI engine. Those vehicles are mostly SUVs, like ...
Post a Comment
Read more