A German probe into whether Robert Bosch GmbH helped Volkswagen AG cheat on emissions tests intensified as Stuttgart prosecutors say they are focusing on three managers at the car parts maker.
While Stuttgart prosecutors didn’t identify the employees, the step indicates that investigators may have found specific evidence in the probe. Previously, prosecutors have said they were looking into the role "unidentified" Bosch employees may have played in providing software that was used to cheat on emission tests.
"We have opened a probe against all three on suspicions they aided to fraud in connection to possible manipulation in emissions treatments in VW cars," Jan Holzner, a spokesman for the agency, said in an emailed statement. "All of them are mangers with the hierarchical highest in middle management."
A spokesman for Bosch said that while he can’t comment on individual employees, the company “takes the overall allegations in diesel cases seriously and has been cooperating fully from the beginning of the probes.”
Bosch, which is also being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, has been under investigation since 2015 over allegation its employees may have helped VW to rig software that helped the carmaker to cheat emission tests. This year, the Stuttgart prosecutors also opened a similar probe over Bosch’s role in connection with emission tests of Daimler cars.
By Karin Matussek
