Porsche Official Arrested Over Dieselgate
Police raid offices of Porsche in Stuttgart, arrest engine chief Jörg Kerner.
On April 18, police officers joined prosecutors to raid Porsche’s offices in Germany and locations related to three employees. According to the German publication Bild, Porsche engine chief Jörg Kerner was arrested after the raid. Kerner was close at work when he received a phone call telling him his house was being raided. He immediately turned around and “raced” home. According to the report, investigators consider that an escape attempt and took him into custody as a flight risk.
It all goes back to Volkswagen Group admitting in 2015 to using software installed in diesel engine cars to cheat worldwide emissions tests and regulations. Most of the 11 million cars affected were Volkswagens, but Audi has also been at the heart of investigations. Previously, 14,000 diesel engines in U.S Cayenne models were also identified as having the illegal software. But, Porsche has plausible deniability as they were supplied by Audi.
So far, Porsche has done a great job of keeping their distance from the whole scandal. Fortunately, Kerner’s involvement appears to be from long before moving to Porsche.
According to reports, an internal memo suggests Kerner knew of the emissions cheating software in 2007. At the time he was working for Audi, where evidence suggests the cheat software was initially developed. Kerner also worked closely with the former top engineer at Volkswagen group, Wolfgang Hatz, who was arrested last year. Also arrested was Audi’s former manager Giovanni Pamio, and it’s believed that his information led to Kerner’s arrest.
This is the first time the Volkswagen scandal has brought an investigation to Porsche’s door step. Hopefully, Porsche will still be largely unaffected by Volkswagen Group’s ongoing legal trouble. As one of the groups most profitable companies, it’s going to be very important that they remain so.
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