A report in Germany’s Tagesspiegel newspaper, spotted by Reuters, suggests VW’s board on Friday will decide to move forward with a tentative plan to replace Winterkorn with Porsche head Matthias Mueller.
The automaker has denied the report, however the severity of the scandal is widely expected to result in high-level firings. Although nobody is known to have been killed by the emissions-cheating software, it is unique in its egregious and intentional violation of US law. It is unlikely that such a program was implemented without the knowledge and approval of upper-level management.
Winterkorn’s leadership was already put into question earlier this year in a public spat with former chairman Ferdinand Piech. The chief executive kept his job, though one of his subordinates, former CFO Hans Dieter Poetsch, was promoted to succeed Piech as chairman.
The US Department of Justice just weeks ago promised to prosecute more executives for white-collar crimes, backtracking on the light-handed approach under former Attorney General Eric Holder. The government could consequently bring indictments against VW executives or lower workers if investigators uncover enough evidence of a conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.
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