In what many might consider startling of the chief executive of a technology-based auto manufacturer, former Volkswagen boss, Martin Winterkorn, has claimed ignorance of the auto maker’s emissions cheat until it came to public notice.
He made this known at a hearing before the German parliamentary committee investigating the scandal.
The issue had come to public attention in September 2015 when US industry watchdogs claimed the firm had installed a software in its diesel cars to cheat emissions tests.
The disclosure resulted in Mr. Winterkorn’s resignation and apology. Later, it was revealed the alleged emission cheat aid had been installed in 11 million VW cars globally.
The German auto giant has claimed it had no knowledge of the defects with the software until later in August 2015 and had quickly, in the following month, filed a formal report to US authorities to that effect.
The ex-VW boss, questioned about when he and fellow top managers at Volkswagen leant of the diesel cheating and why investors where not informed promptly, said: "I, too, am looking for satisfactory answers." Adding that he was uncertain as to how many people were involved.
To further emphases his ignorance of the problem ahead of the official disclosure, when interrogated as to whether he had knowledge of the cheating earlier than VW officially admitted, he said: "That is not the case".
At the beginning of the year, the auto maker admitted to US prosecutors that about 40 of its staffs had deleted thousands of documents in a bid to hide vital information linking VW to deliberate emission-cheating attempts from the regulators.
In a series of massive backlash on VW, including a gross loss of public confidence, agreement to plead guilty to criminal charges, the auto giant has been fined $4.3bn by US authorities plus an additional $15bn in civil settlement with environmental authorities as well as the country’s car users.
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