There will be no Celebration on 17. April in Wolfsburg, if the Old one is 80. Presumably, Ferdinand Piëch sits for a birthday grantelnd in Salzburg and ponders about life. His life’s work, is Volkswagen. Only in the case of the VW subsidiary Audi, and then for more than two decades in the corporate headquarters on the Mittelland canal in Wolfsburg, the engineer has shaped the company. Spreading fear and terror. The Patriarch and his favorite student, Martin Winterkorn bought a huge group with twelve Car, Truck and motorcycle brands that builds so many vehicles like no other company in the world.
After a long absence, has reported Piëch now. With deserts allegations against current and former VW Supervisory Board, he shall, in the Diesel-affair for new excitement. Not only the winter grain have earlier than claimed by the millions of exhaust gas fraud known to Piëch, the Prosecutor of Braunschweig said. Four members of the Supervisory Board – including lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) – months before the scandal have been in the picture. The accused rejected this immediately sharp. But who is telling the truth? What drives the soon 80-year-old Piëch to such accusations?
The attack, which went for Piëch back
“A very difficult man,” says a longtime VW Supervisory Board on Piëch. If that is not an understatement. With special Comments, mostly – as now – on media, he has often made policy, careers, and power struggles destroyed decided. For example, more than ten years ago, when he was a journalist casually the evaluation, as the chief Executive officer of VW, one could not act against the workers. The rather terse Movements meant the end of Bernd Pischetsrieder, was replaced by winter wheat. Pischetsrieder had tried to remove together with the former lower Saxony Prime Minister Christian Wulff and Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking Piëch, the VW Supervisory Board. Pischetsrieder did not survive the maneuver, and Wiedeking was a few years later due.
With winter grain it went well for a long time. Until the fall of 2013. At the time, with a few Familiar a scenario played through in the event that the Supervisory Board was Chairman Piëch. Wiko, the nickname of the CEO, should be back to the top of the control panel, and CFO Hans Dieter Pötsch Board of Directors to be Chairman. The Old man was pissed and went looking for reports and rumors about his health.
The family is hopelessly divided
one and a Half years later, then again, the attack on the media: “I’m at a distance to winter grain,” said Piëch the beginning of 2015, the “mirror” and brought the group in strong turbulence. As then it became known that he owners without consultation with other stake – already in search of a winter-grain-successor had made, among other things, he should have the then-Porsche chief Matthias Müller asked, was the last straw. The Porsche family, in addition to the Piëchs major shareholder of VW, Stephan, Because as a representative of the shareholder lower Saxony and the employee, with the Ex-IG Metall chief Berthold Huber and the VW works Council boss Bernd Osterloh at the top, in front of winter grain and against Piëch. The Old man was overwrought and laid down his Supervisory Board mandate; as well Piëchs wife Ursula. What a coincidence: Supposedly Piëch impacted now in addition to winter grain, of all things, Osterloh, Huber, and Wolfgang P orsche. His Cousin.
The gentlemen are associated in the family in a cordial aversion. Some of the Supervisory Board, the had to do over the years with the billionaires, even speaks of hatred. And for Piëch is barely tolerable when he sees “his” company is now in the hands of his cousin “Wolfi”, which he considers to be incompetent.
“I had the hope that Mr Piëch remembers”
Stephan Weil rejected Piëchs allegations on Thursday in Hannover again, as untrue. They were “not proven and not provable”, said Because. About the motives of Piëchs he could only speculate. Piëch stepped back in 2015 in the dispute. “Perhaps there is a connection.” In the past few months, says the Prime Minister, had him Piëchs allegations known. The US law firm Jones Day, to solve the diesel scandal in the VW order, had examined the statements, and as a credibility rating.
“has Actually given it in the spring of 2015, no one notices me,” said Because of the allegation that he had early learned of the exhaust gas manipulation. But why does he not informed the Public about Piëchs alleged statement? “I had the hope that Mr Piëch to his senses,” said the SPD politician. “We were wrong, unfortunately.” The current discussion is “harmful”.
“Would set us Dr. Piëch in knowledge, then we would have the company and the workforce, perhaps in front of a large harm”, responded Osterloh and Huber on the alleged Statements Piëchs that you already have in the February 2015 of this on diesel the gate were informed. “Now, we expect that the management Board shall immediately examine whether he needs to take action against Piëch.” If the former Supervisory Board had known boss Piëch from the scandal, as he claims, then he would have been by virtue of their office obliged to do something about it. “He has never spoken with the people”, – is said in the group. “And now he is digging his own grave.”
VW will probably sue Piëch
Not only is the VW Board is now considering “possible action, and claims” against Piëch. The Board of Directors may reimburse active and display. “As you can imagine, the entire legal bandwidth”, it said on Thursday from the panel. The claim for damages, a criminal complaint for libel – “is now taken no more consideration,” said an Insider to the daily mirror. “Piëchs statement, you can’t let that stand, now we are going to keep it.”
Whether Piëch said in fact, in December 2016, the judiciary and the members of the Executive Committee of the VW-weighted Supervisory Board, is unclear. The competent Prosecutor Klaus Parents could not be reached on Thursday.
the role of The Israeli secret service
gets The exhaust-affair, meanwhile, more political dimensions. The greens and the Left, demanded to load Piëch in front of the gas investigation Committee of the Bundestag. The Prime Minister, Because there is heard next Thursday. It is speculated also that the Israeli domestic secret service Shin played Bet a role in the Diesel affair. The Spiegel Online” and the “business week reported “”. The service is said to have possessed a Letter stating that U.S. authorities Martin winter, informed the grain at an early stage about scams in the exhaust gas values. This Letter had shown the former Israeli Ambassador to Germany, Avi Primor, at the end of February 2015 Piëch. Primor had had the former Shin-Bet-chief-Juval Diskin. Primor told the “business weekly”, he was friends with Diskin and have this done as a Favor. If we had been in different German companies including VW. To the exhaust gas scandal would not comment of the Ex-Ambassador: “an ything that has to do with the VW scandal, I say nothing. Nothing."
the parliamentary leader of The SPD in the Landtag, Markus Rinderspacher. Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/archive 
