[THE INVESTOR] South Korean prosecutors will soon summon Johannes Thammer, the CEO of Audi Volkswagen Korea, to question him over his involvement in the widening probe into the German carmaker’s cheating emission scandal.

Seoul’s Central District Prosecutor’s Office on July 13 said Tamer is suspected of colluding with a VW executive, identified only by his surname Yoon, to manipulate software of the gasoline model Golf 1.4 TSI to meet the emission and noise level standards. 


The prosecutors already arrested Yoon in June on charges of fabricating private documents and obstruction of justice.

Thammer, who heads the local unit since Dec. 2012, will be summoned as a suspect for questioning on charges of fraud, obstruction of justice and violating the Clean Air Conservation Act.

The prosecutors already secured evidence that the German headquarters directly ordered the manipulation. The authorities believe it was Tamer and Yoon who received the order and submitted false documents and manipulated the software to secure approval from Korea’s National Institute of Environmental Research to be eligible for sale in Korea.

The embattled model has sold 1,567 units in Korea since March 2015.

Earlier on July 8, former VW chief Park Dong-hoon was resummoned for questioning regarding the emission-cheating case. Park, however, is said to have played no role, as his authority was limited to managing sales at most, according to those close to the matter.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)