An executive from Germany-based Volkswagen AG headquarters is being questioned by Korean prosecutors in relation to the country’s probe on a number of emission cheat allegations. A number of senior officials including the local unit head Johannes Thammer has come under prosecution probe, but it is the first interrogation on someone from the German head office.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors` Office on Wednesday morning questioned a Volkswagen official who was in charge of emissions certification. The unnamed official had been in Korea in July 2011 to answer to the inquiry by the Korean environment ministry on the carmaker brands’ excessive emission of nitrogen oxide. He maintained then that the emission levels were nothing out of ordinary.
During the questioning on Wednesday, the Seoul prosecutors probed into the German headquarters’ role in the course of rigging the emissions test results of the Volkswagen vehicles imported to Korea and the reason for refusing to submit related documents to the environment ministry.
The Seoul prosecutors summoned seven officials from the German headquarters for questioning in July through the representative of the German automaker’s local unit Audi Volkswagen Korea but only one has so far complied.
By Lee Hyun-jung
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