Germany: Volkswagen’s former head of WC convicted

This is the heaviest jail term in VW's works council corruption scandal, which burst in July 2005. On February 22, 2008, the Braunschweig court sentenced Klaus Volkert, former head of VW's works council, to a two years and nine months prison sentence . In an interview, he accused Ferdinand Piëch, the former head of VW, who denies knowledge of the case. (Ref. 080155)
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“Anyone who knows the way things were in the company at the time finds it hard to imagine that that all happened without Piech. There was little he didn’t know about at VW,” Mr. Volkert was quoted as saying in an interview with the weekly Der Spiegel the day after he was convicted (Feb. 25). Called on January 15 as a witness, Mr. Piech, former head of the board of the automotive group from 1993 to 2002, and current head of VW’s surveillance council, said he was never informed of the special bon

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