Frankfurt — Volkswagen (VW) has denied allegations that chair Hans Dieter Poetsch knew about the carmaker’s emissions test cheating almost three months before US authorities made it public in September 2015. Citing internal documents from investigators, German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported that Poetsch, VW’s finance head at the time, learned about the carmaker’s violations of the rules in late June 2015. The paper cites a confidential presentation from the VW legal department, available to investigators in proceedings about the carmaker’s alleged market manipulation. According to the report, a presentation dubbed “Sacramento” and dated June 24 2015, stated that US emissions rules were being violated and that the company may also have breached its supervisory obligations.

The paper also reported that, according to testimony from a leading VW lawyer, referred to as “witness P”, Poetsch received the presentation on June 29 2015. He was also informed then that 600,000 vehicles i...

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