VW receives 288 million euros for "Dieselgate"

Former CEO Martin Winterkorn and three other ex-top managers are paying record compensation to Volkswagen because of the diesel scandal. A large part of the total is due to specialized liability insurance. According to the final agreement, an amount of just under 288 million euros was agreed, VW said. The former CEO personally pays 11.2 million euros. Ex-Audi boss and VW board member Rupert Stadler is to transfer 4.1 million euros himself. With him and Winterkorn it is about the violation of stock corporation law due diligence. The former Porsche board member Wolfgang Hatz also contributes 1.5 million euros, the former Audi manager Stefan Knirsch one million euros. There are also additional insurance benefits that are well above the private amounts. According to VW, they add up to a total of 270 million euros. In addition to the lawyers of the former managers, more than 30 insurers were involved in the negotiations. Both the personal payments and the insured coverage would result in "by far the highest sum that such a consortium has ever put on the table in Germany," said negotiators. The fundamental decision to draw Winterkorn and some of his colleagues to "Dieselgate" to take financial responsibility had already been made at the end of March. Now the details are in. VW had also demanded compensation from ex-head of development Ulrich Hackenberg. However, he was "not ready to reach an agreement", which is why "legal steps" should now be prepared against him. The agreed payments, which were discussed outside of civil or criminal litigation, could put a provisional end in the years of processing individual responsibilities in the emissions scandal. The general meeting scheduled for July 22nd has yet to approve the resolutions. However, further questions have to be clarified before the courts themselves in ongoing or upcoming proceedings. After the nitrogen oxide manipulation on diesel engines in the USA in autumn 2015, proceedings began around the world. Criminal justice and consumer advocates also dealt with the origin of the scandal, which plunged the auto industry into a crisis of confidence and has cost the VW Group well over 30 billion euros so far. Relatively early on, Volkswagen admitted to the US Department of Justice that it was fundamentally guilty of deceiving customers and authorities. However, the supervisory board also commissioned the law firm Gleiss Lutz to investigate internal processes in the period before the diesel affair. This examination lasted more than five years. Winterkorn had assured that before the allegations became known, they had always behaved correctly to the best of their knowledge. He "did everything that was necessary and did not neglect anything that would have led to the damage being avoided or minimized".