Investor proceedings on diesel scandal at VW delayed again

BRAUNSCHWEIG (dpa-AFX) – The billion-dollar investor proceedings against the Volkswagen Group and its umbrella holding company Porsche SE over the diesel scandal have been delayed again. Two trial dates for the beginning of September have been canceled because there was not enough time to prepare for hearings, the Higher Regional Court in Braunschweig announced Wednesday. Some of the scheduled witnesses invoke a comprehensive right to refuse to testify from their point of view.

In the lawsuit under the Capital Investor Model Proceedings Act, there has been a dispute since 2018 about damages for investors who suffered share price losses in the billions after the Dieselgate affair at VW blew up. At the beginning of March, the court had informed the parties that it considered an extensive hearing of evidence to be necessary. In July, OLG announced that it would hear 86 witnesses – including former VW Group CEOs Martin Winterkorn, Matthias Müller and Herbert Diess.

Since the parties to the proceedings objected to the references to the right to refuse to testify, the Senate would have to decide on this with an interim ruling, the court announced. The mammoth proceedings are to be continued on September 19 and 20./bch/DP/jha