[Courtesy of Volkswagen Korea]
An executive of Volkswagen's unit in South Korea was arrested Friday in a probe into the German auto giant which has been accused of faking emissions tests.
Prosecutors said the executive surnamed Yoon, 52, was arrested on charges including forging reports on emissions results, noise levels and fuel efficiency. He was also accused of importing 461 cars without getting proper certification. Yoon was the first Volkswagen Korea official to be charged in an investigation by prosecutors.
Volkswagen has been under a flurry of legal actions in South Korea and other countries after it admitted in September last year to falsifying US emissions tests on some of its diesel cars. On June 1, South Korean prosecutors seized 950 Volkswagen cars -- A1, A3 and Golf .
Violators of South Korea's environmental law could receive a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to 30 million won (26,087 US dollars). The Volkswagen case triggered an intensive safety check into imported cars.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
