The Seoul prosecutors’ office said on Friday it searched Audi Volkswagen Korea’s headquarters office and two of its PR agencies this week on allegations that the automaker cheated on its fuel-efficiency test results.
“We have grounds to believe the test results submitted to the Korean government were rigged,” said the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, referring to documents sent to the related ministries in 2013 and 2014.
(Yonhap)
The prosecution said it recently discovered a discrepancy between the test results sent from the carmaker‘s German headquarters, and those submitted to the Korean government. The results were sent via the carmaker‘s PR agencies.
Audi Volkswagen officials declined to comment, saying the investigation was ongoing.
The prosecution plans to continue its probe into Audi Volkswagen to discover who ordered the distortion in the test results, and how they were fabricated.
Those guilty can be charged with fabrication of private document and obstruction of justice, the prosecutors said.
“We will make an investigation into whether the fabrication, if found to be true, was ordered by the headquarters in Korea or that in Germany,” the prosecution said.
Earlier in January, Audi Volkswagen Korea’s chief executive Johannes Thammer was accused by the MInistry of Environment of illegally receiving an approval from the Korean government to sell the vehicles which exceeded the designated emission levels.
By Shin Ji-hye (
shinjh@heraldcorp.com)