Dieselgate: Volkswagen now hit for tax
German prosecutors open a tax investigation on Volkswagen over CO2 cheatInvestigators in Germany are treading the well-worn path to Volkswagen’s offices for a new criminal investigation into alleged tax fraud.
The investigation has been spurred by Volkswagen’s admission that many of its claimed CO2 emissions figures were “implausible”.
Most European governments set their vehicle taxation rates on the official CO2 figures, which are based off the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) laboratory tests, so hundreds of thousands of buyers received tax breaks, based on Volkswagen’s CO2 claims, they had no right to.
Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Müller admitted two weeks ago that he’d been tipped off by an internal whistleblower that 800,000 of the Group’s cars had official CO2 figures that were “implausible”.
The new investigation has been set up by the public prosecutor in Braunschweig (Brunswick) to look into possible connections between the manipulated NEDC figures and the amount of tax paid by buyers of affected Volkswagen Group cars.
Volkswagen has already set aside more than €2 billion to repay European governments for its latest fiddle and is negotiating with both individual governments and the EU to distribute it.
The Braunschweig public prosecutor already has open investigations into Volkswagen over the Dieselgate scandal, where cars turned off their NOx emissions controls outside of laboratory conditions.
It has another investigation into the petrol-powered cars as well, covering most of the 1.4-litre engines with cylinder-on-demand technology.
A spokesman for the public prosecutor, Klaus Ziehe, admitted it had opened its third criminal investigation into Volkswagen’s affairs, which are likely to branch out into individual investigations for those deemed culpable.
Ziehe said the additional investigation was needed because the tax fraud involved different departments and just five people within Volkswagen.
Volkswagen has been ordered to come up with fixes to reduce its NOx emissions levels for a planned recall of its Dieselgate cars, but it is not possible to fix its CO2 cheat.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
If the price does not contain the notation that it is "Drive Away", the price may not include additional costs, such as stamp duty and other government charges.
