Between 2014 and 2016, German carmaker Volkswagen placed 5.8 billion euros into a financial structure, run by a staff of five, it registered in Luxembourg, and which paid just 1.7 million euros in taxes on the sum. It is one example of an elaborate system of ‘tax optimisation’ created by the giant group in 2012, despite assurances by its supervisory board chairman, Hans Dieter Pötsch, when he was financial director, that “we have never played such games”. Yann Philippin, Martin Hesse, Simon Hage and Blaz Zgaga report.
A French consumer fraud watchdog has said the managerial responsibilty of Renault boss Carlos Ghosn is engaged in an alleged emissions-cheating scam to disguise true pollution levels of the French carmaker's diesel engines, following an investigation prompted by Volkswagen's exposure in 2015 for US diesel test-cheating.
