Volkswagen pays 4.3 bln dollars in penalties to settle United States emissions scandal

Volkwagen’s shareholders have suffered since the scandal began in September 2015. All are described as head of divisions or supervisors.

The automaker will pay the largest ever penalties levied by the USA government against an auto company.

Six former Volkswagen executives are being charged over their alleged roles in the 2015 emissions scandal, as the company admits liability and is ordered to pay a record $4.3bn (£3.5bn) penalty, U.S. officials have said.

“This wasn’t simply the action of some faceless, multinational corporation”, said US Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

Most analysts had expected the USA settlement, which VW has raced to conclude before the Obama administration bows out on January 20, to cost the carmaker around 3 billion euros.

One of the executives indicted, Oliver Schmidt, was arrested last weekend in Miami. Neusser and the other four are in Germany, and Lynch said it wasn’t clear how their cases would proceed.

But while this settlement is a major step forward for Volkswagen as it works to move past the scandal, the issue hasn’t been totally resolved just yet. It was in September a year ago that the chief executive officer of Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn has already resigned and are being investigated for their involvement in securities laws. Representatives for the other men couldn’t immediately be reached.

A total of $2.8 billion worth of that sum will be enacted towards criminal penalties following more than 590,000 diesel vehicles sold in the US with defeat devices. Typically big firms are allowed to pay a fine with no admission of criminal activity, and staff never end up in the dock facing personal charges.

The engineers had extra fuel injected into the engine on ignition, solving the noise problem but causing excess emissions that needed to be hidden during laboratory tests.

Despite the scandal, VW Group – which includes the brands Audi (IOB: 0FG8.IL – news), Porsche and Skoda – said on Tuesday it had sold a new record 10.3 million cars worldwide previous year.

She also said the size of the penalty, the largest ever for a auto company in USA history, reflects the unusual level of premeditation of wrongdoing at high levels of Volkswagen.

VW went on to sell 585,000 diesel cars equipped with illegal defeat devices in the US.

In March 2014, West Virginia University’s Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions published the results of a study commissioned by the International Council on Clean Transportation.

A flag flutters in the wind above a Volkswagen dealership in Carlsbad, California.

In June 2015, Peter wrote to VW employees saying they needed to come up with “good arguments” to tell regulators asking about the emissions discrepancies.