Volkswagen on Wednesday said it had agreed with former executives, including ex-CEO Martin Winterkorn, to settle claims related to the “dieselgate” scandal in a €288m (roughly R4,757,418,900) deal.
The agreement, which consists mainly of a €270m (roughly R4,460,812,128) payment from directors’ and officers’ liability insurances, also includes a settlement with former Audi boss Rupert Stadler.
It needs to be approved at the company’s annual general meeting on July 22.
In late March Volkswagen said it would claim damages from Winterkorn and Stadler on account of breaches of duty of care under stock corporation law.
Volkswagen concluded Winterkorn had breached his duty of care by failing to fully and swiftly clarify circumstances behind the use of unlawful software functions in some diesel engines sold in the North American market between 2009 and 2015.
As part of the deal, Winterkorn and Stadler will pay €11.2m (roughly R185,029,264) and €4.1m (roughly R67,740,553), respectively. Former Audi board member Stefan Knirsch agreed to settle for €1m (roughly R16,521,684), and ex-Porsche AG board member Wolfgang Hatz for €1.5 m (roughly R24,782,220), VW said.
The settlement comes as Berlin prosecutors on Wednesday said they had brought separate charges against Winterkorn for giving false testimony to the German parliament when he said he was unaware of the carmaker’s diesel scandal before it broke.
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