Volkswagen Investigation

[Anchor Lead]

The CEO of Audi Volkswagen Korea sat in for a 16-hour-long interrogation at the prosecutors' office with regard to the automaker's emissions scandal. Here’s more.

[Pkg]

Audi Volkswagen Korea CEO Johannes Thammer was summoned by prosecutors on August 11th to undergo a 16-hour-long interrogation. He was released in the early hours of August 12th.

[Soundbite] Johannes Thammer(CEO, Audi Volkswagen Korea)

On the question of whether he had received instructions from the automaker's headquarters in Germany, Thammer gave a short answer in the negative. He is the highest-ranking Volkswagen official to be summoned by prosecutors since the probe into the automaker's emissions scandal began. The prosecutors looked to find out if Thammer had ordered the illegal replacement of the emissions software of the seventh-generation Golf 1.4 TSI. They also grilled him over whether he ordered the fabrication of gas emissions and noise test results for the Euro 5 vehicles and if he reported the fabrication to Volkswagen's headquarters in Germany. Prosecutors say they will decide on whether to request an arrest warrant for Thammer after summoning him again on August 12th since he's a foreign national and because many questions for him still remain. As to the former head of Audi Volkswagen Korea, Park Dong-hoon, the prosecutors have apparently decided to indict him without physical arrest.