Volkswagen again in the eye of the storm due to the dieselgate. The German prosecutors have accused the current CEO of the group, Herbert Deiss, the president, Hans Dieter Poetsch and the former CEO, Martin Winterkorn of manipulating the market in the context of the emissions scandal that broke out in 2015.
In detail, the three managers would have deliberately late informing the markets about the money Volkswagen would have to spend to deal with the allegations. By doing so they would unduly affected the share price. In a press release, the Braunschweig prosecutor specifies that the deliberate delay concerned the failure to disseminate information due to the market on the "significant payment obligations of the group, in the order of billions, resulting from the discovery of the so-called 'diesel scandal' and in this such as having illicitly influenced the company's stock market quotations”.
According to prosecutors, former CEO Winterkorn had "full knowledge" of what was happening "since May 2015 at the latest. Poetsch since the end of June and Diess since the end of July. Translated into simple words, already 4 months before the publication of the "Notice of violation" by the US Authority, which took place on 18 September, the leaders of the group knew very well what the consequences of the dieselgate would be.
Immediate the reaction of the share which in Frankfurt yields 2,3%. How much the scandal cost in stock market terms, on the other hand, is there for all to see. In 2015, before the scandal the price of a Volkswagen share was 244 euros. After the scandal, the collapse to 102 euros. A timid recovery has begun this year: today the stock is worth 153,04 euros after having reached a maximum of 166 euros in April.
The trial started last September in the regional court of Braunschweig and about 1.600 appeals are pending on the "head of Volkswagen". The group has already incurred 27 billion in legal expenses.
