The former chief executive of the Volkswagen Group, Martin Winterkorn, has agreed to pay €10 million ($12 million) in damages to the carmaker in relation to the dieselgate scandal.
Volkswagen announced its intention to claim damages from Winterkorn over the scandal in March and according to reports, an agreement between VW, Winterkorn, and other former executives could be signed as early as this week.
While Volkswagen has declined to comment on the reports and Winterkorn is staying silent, it is claimed that the automaker’s supervisory board will meet to discuss the agreement over the weekend, Reuters notes. It will then need its shareholders to sign off on the agreement during its annual general meeting in July.
In a multiyear internal investigation, Volkswagen recently concluded that Winterkorn breached his duties of care as former chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen AG by failing to “comprehensively and promptly clarify the circumstances behind the use of unlawful software functions in 2.0l TDI diesel engines sold in the North American market between 2009 and 2015.”
Winterkorn resigned from his post at Volkswagen in September 2015 just days after the dieselgate scandal first broke. The former CEO claimed at the time that he was unaware of any wrongdoing on his part. Shortly after, he was indicted on charges of fraud and conspiracy in the U.S. but as Germany does not extradite its citizens, he has so far avoided the U.S. justice system.
