BERLIN, April 20 (Xinhua) -- A senior manager at the luxury carmaker Porsche has been taken into police custody in connection to the ongoing "dieselgate" scandal, state prosecutors confirmed on Friday.
The arrest was justified on the grounds that the suspect posed a flight risk and could try to obscure evidence related to emissions cheating practices at Porsche. Investigators are currently in the process of conducting a large-scale raid of business and housing premises linked to the Stuttgart-based carmaker and its staff.
Porsche chief executive officer (CEO) Oliver Blume subsequently revealed the identity of the "leading employee" as Joerg Kerner, the head of motor development.
Kerner is one of three individuals who are being treated as suspects by state prosecutors, alongside head of development Michael Steiner and an unnamed ex-Porsche employee. They face criminal charges of fraud and illicit marketing in relation to the installation of illicit motor software which falsified the actual levels of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions produced by diesel vehicles.
State prosecutors have listed their accusations against Porsche in a 36-page dossier which claims that the carmaker was aware of the fact that diesel-motors used in models such as the Porsche "Cayenne" and "Macan"produced by its sister company Audi were illegally-tampered with.
Nevertheless, CEO Blume rejected this accusation in an internal message to staff on Friday and vowed to "restore everything to order" at Porsche. "The management board and myself are doing everything we can to clarify the situation as soon as possible", the letter read.
Porsche is part of the wider Volkswagen Group which includes brands such as Audi, Skoda, Seat, Bentley and Lamborghini amongst others. So far, Volkswagen has paid out more than 25 billion euros (30.7 billion U.S. dollars) in settlements and fines as a result of the "dieselgate" scandal since 2015 in the U.S. alone.
