German prosecutors have announced that they opened a criminal investigation into Volkswagen's former chief executive Martin Winterkorn over a worldwide pollution cheating scandal.
Winterkorn resigned in the midst of global outrage after Volkswagen revealed that 11 million of its diesel vehicles are equipped with devices that fool official pollution tests.
The world’s top-selling carmaker admitted that it had rigged diesel emissions to pass US tests during his tenure.
The investigation will concentrate on the suspicion of fraud committed through the sale of vehicles with manipulated emissions data and aims to determine who was responsible for it, prosecutors in Braunschweig said in a statement.
“The investigation will focus on the allegation of fraud by selling vehicles with manipulated emission values,” the statement stated.
“The aim of the investigation is to clarify the chain of responsibility,” it added.
In the German system, anyone can file a criminal complaint with prosecutors, who are then obliged to examine it and decide whether there is enough evidence to open a formal investigation.