Volkswagen AG rejects the report published in “Bild am Sonntag”. The Company has issued the following statement:
It is true that the Executive Committee already broached the subject of fringe benefits and an update of the fringe benefits catalogue in November 2013. The matter was also discussed at two further Executive Committee meetings in February 2014. It is not true that an allegation of fraud was raised at an Executive Committee meeting. There is no mention of either an allegation of fraud or a suspicion of fraud in the minutes of the meetings signed by Prof. Piëch. All other members of the Executive Committee at that time unanimously concur that no allegation of fraud was raised.
The statement in “Bild am Sonntag” to the effect that four persons familiar with the subject reportedly confirmed to “Bild am Sonntag” that Prof. Piëch presented a legal analysis to the Executive Committee cannot be correct. As already indicated, five of the six Executive Committee members stated that no such legal analysis was presented.
Furthermore, in its enquiries addressed to the company prior to publishing the report, “Bild am Sonntag” referred to an alleged expert opinion. After this had been refuted, the published report now refers to an orally presented legal analysis. We wish to put on record that the legal advisor of the then Chairman of the Supervisory Board who, according to the oral enquiries of “Bild am Sonntag”, was supposed to have been involved in the preparation of the alleged expert opinion, disputes any involvement. He, too, is not aware of any such expert opinion.
The company also wishes to note that the fringe benefits were claimed on the basis of the fringe benefits catalogue valid at that time and were handled correctly in accordance with the applicable regulations.
Bild am Sonntag (BamS) is the largest-selling German national Sunday newspaper published in Berlin, Germany.
