[Yonhap News Photo ]
South Korean prosecutors questioned the managing director of German carmaker Volkswagen Thursday over allegations that the company has illegally changed car parts to fabricate emissions results.
The investigation focuses on whether Thomas Kuehl was involved in the illegal change of parts for the Golf 1.4 TSI. He has controlled imports and sales of Volkswagen vehicles in South Korea since 2013.
Audi Volkswagen Korea is suspected of fabricating company reports on noise level, fuel efficiency and emissions results.
A week ago, prosecutors questioned Johannes Thammer, the South Korean head of German carmaker Volkswagen, to see if he has been involved in fabricated documents to obtain government approval after the Seoul government imposed a sales ban.
The environment ministry has banned sales of 80 variants of 32 car types sold by Volkswagen in South Korea between 2009 and July 25 this year, and cancelled the registration of 83,000 cars.
Audi Volkswagen, which sold more than 300,000 cars in South Korea from 2007, has apologized but vowed to take legal and other steps to get government permission again.
The Germany company has been punished with 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.
A Volkswagen executive in South Korea has been arrested and indicted for forging reports and importing cars without getting proper certification.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
