Throwing Winterkorn under the bus could backfire for VW and its new leaders
Their case against the former CEO could bolster investors’ case against Volkswagen in the emissions-cheating scandal
Berlin — Forcing former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn to pay for at least some of the €25bn stemming from the diesel-rigging scandal could backfire on the car maker. US criminal charges, disclosed in early May, gives Volkswagen an opportunity to go after Winterkorn as German law requires companies to make executives pay for corporate wrongdoing. Any effort to throw Winterkorn under the bus, however, could bolster investors suing VW for €9bn for failing to inform the market about the diesel issue earlier — and could even drag other top executives, such as chairman Dieter Poetsch and new CEO Herbert Diess, into the fray. "VW is in a predicament: if the facts allow them to seek damages from Winterkorn, then most likely the investors will also have a valid case," says Adrian Mueller-Helle, a lawyer at Wegnerpartner in Berlin. "The supervisory board normally has to sue, but in a conflict like this, some people argue there’s leeway. It’s tricky." VW has been shrouded in regulatory and ...
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