Audi’s HQ raided by German police in Dieselgate swoop as its CEO Rupert Stadler announces earnings for 2016
Audi's two biggest plants were searched by German prosecutors today while its chief exec was announcing the car giant's earnings at its annual press conference today.
Prosecutors from several jurisdictions and state police from Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Lower Saxony carried out the raids, according to Reuters.
VW, Audi's parent company, has drawn criticism amid the so-called Dieselgate scandal, details of which revealed that up to 11m of the car giant's vehicles worldwide had software installed that cheats emissions tests. The German company has agreed to fork out over $1bn (£820m) to fix or buy back the 80,000 cars as part of an US settlement.
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The raids today focussed on who was involved in the use of any illicit software used in 80,000 VW, Audi and Porsche cars with bigger 3.0 litre engines.
"With these search orders we aim to clarify in particular who was involved in deploying the technology concerned and in the provision of false information to third parties," the Munich prosecutor's office said in a statement, without naming any suspects.
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The raids came as Audi CEO Rupert Stadler presented his company's 2016 earnings at its annual press conference.
"I have all along supported efforts to clear up the diesel issue at Audi," he told reporters. However, he admitted that the scandal was"far from over".
Audi was forced to increase its diesel scandal-related provisions last year to €1.63bn and incurred a €162m for the recall of cars fitted with Takata Corp airbags.