Volkswagen executive to visit Seoul prosecution over emissions scandal

All News 12:03 January 17, 2017

SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Yonhap) -- A senior executive of German carmaker Volkswagen will visit South Korean investigators this week to discuss issues related to its emissions scandal, the prosecution said Tuesday.

Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, member of Volkswagen AG's Board of Management, will visit the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on Wednesday to discuss matters related to vehicles that have been confiscated by the authorities in the course of their investigation into Volkswagen's local unit.

The prosecution confiscated 956 vehicles of Audi Volkswagen Korea (AVK) from its pre-delivery inspection center in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, in June, saying some of them were imported without proper environmental authorization.

Seoul prosecutors indicted former and incumbent chief executives of Volkswagen's Korean unit last week, wrapping up a year-long investigation into the carmaker's emissions cheating scandal.

Johannes Thammer, who has led AVK since late 2012, was charged with violating the Clean Air Conservation Act to win sales approval from local authorities.

His predecessor Trevor Hill, currently working at the German headquarters, and Park Dong-hoon, who headed AVK's Volkswagen division from 2005 to 2013, also face similar charges. Park currently heads Renault Samsung Motors Co.

One of its executives, who is in charge of the vehicle certification process, was first indicted in July and was sentenced to a year and a half in jail by a local court earlier this month.