The Volkswagen diesel emissions cheating scandal is now in its third trimester, and the automaker is starving for good news. Its stock price has plummeted, regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are poring over documents related to the scandal, and Volkswagen’s own internal investigation has turned up some rather unflattering information about just how high up the chain of command the cheating scandal goes.
Yet some investors are still not satisfied with the progress of the investigation, and Reuters reporting that one of Volkswagen’s largest investors, DSW, asked for a shareholder vote to begin an all-new, completely independent investigation into the automaker. Things aren’t looking good for Vdub.
“When you have an independent investigation you can be sure that the findings will be publicized. With internal investigations you do not know whether everything has been made transparent,” DSW spokesman Juergen Kurz said in a statement.
DSW was joined by two other investing groups, Deminor and Hermes EOS, which are urging an independent investigation in order to ensure no further cover-ups. The possibility of an independent investigation actually happening are slim to none, however, as the Piech-Porsche families control 52 percent of Volkswagen’s shares, and are unlikely to back such a proposal. The automaker has already set aside over $18 billion to deal with the cheating scandal, as well as forming a Special Committee on Diesel Engines that is headed by Wolfgang Porsche, to discover what allowed the cheating software to be installed on cars.
However, DSW and other investors could still force an independent investigation by taking Volkswagen to court. In March, a former Volkswagen employee came forward claiming that the automaker had destroyed documents linked to the scandal, and the number of executives fired or forced to resign only continues to grow.
To put it another way, this issue is still a long ways from resolved, and it could be years before Volkswagen is allowed to put this scandal behind it.