In a week of bombshell corruption news, one of the biggest was the announcement of the indictment of former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn for his role in the company’s 2015 emissions-testing scandal. VW, after having shelled out some $25 billion in fines, penalties, costs and damages, now faces the prospect of having the line of knowledge and authority reach all the way up to the CEO’s chair. This will only make things worse for the company.
Winterkorn is charged with having actual knowledge of the defeat device installed to provide fraudulent emissions readings for the deiseal vehicles manufactured by the company. Even worse, he is alleged to have instructed company employees to continue deceiving regulators about the fraud. However, Winterkorn is a German citizen, residing in Germany. An important question is whether he will ever answer to these charges in a United States courtroom.
