FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen AG <VOWG_p.DE> has agreed to pay 9 million euros ($9.9 million) in a deal with a German court to end legal proceedings against its chairman and chief executive, who were accused of holding back market-moving information on rigged emissions tests.
The court in Braunschweig was hearing charges of stock market manipulation against CEO Herbert Diess, as well as non-executive Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch.
VW in September 2015 admitted using illegal software to cheat U.S. diesel engine tests, battering its share price. Prosecutors had accused Diess and Poetsch of a delay in informing investors of the company’s wrongdoing.
Volkswagen said it welcomed the court’s decision.
The company added that Diess and Poetsch, who in 2015 held positions as head of VW brand and finance chief, respectively, did not violate any laws or their fiduciary duties towards VW. The company, and not the former defendants, would therefore pay the fine, it said.
The court was not immediately available to comment.
The scandal over engine control devices that mask excessive nitrogen oxide emissions has so far cost Volkswagen more than 30 billion euros in damages and regulatory fines, mainly imposed in the United States.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt and Jan Schwartz in Hamburg; Editing by Sandra Maler and Matthew Lewis)
