German prosecutors said today that they had begun an investigation of the former chief executive of Volkswagen for possible violations of securities laws in connection with the company's emissions scandal, according to The New York Times.
Prosecutors said they opened the investigation against the former Volkswagen chief, Martin Winterkorn, at the behest of Germany's financial watchdog. He is suspected of having waited too long to disclose that the company faced an investigation in the United States, prosecutors in the city of Braunschweig said in a statement.
Mr. Winterkorn resigned in September, several days after the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States publicly accused the company of manipulating results of emissions tests. Court documents filed by Volkswagen indicate that Mr. Winterkorn was informed about emissions problems in the United States more than a year earlier.
Volkswagen has admitted that 11 million of its vehicles were equipped with software that was used to cheat on emissions tests. The company is now contending with the fallout.