Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn has declined to tell German lawmakers when he first learned of diesel emissions test cheating but said it was no earlier than VW has officially admitted.
Reuters noted VW had said its executive board did not learn of the violations until late August 2015 and formally reported the cheating to authorities in the United States in early September that year.
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Asked if he had known about software cheating earlier, Winterkorn told the German parliament's committee of inquiry into carmakers' emissions irregularities: "That is not the case."
He declined to be more specific about when he was informed because it was a matter that was still being investigated by German prosecutors, Reuters reported.
"I too am looking for satisfactory answers," Winterkorn said in his first public remarks since he apologised for the scandal in a televised statement on 22 September, 2015, a day before he resigned the CEO post.
VW last week agreed to pay a US$4.3bn penalty – the largest US criminal fine ever levied on an automaker – to settle charges it conspired for almost a decade to cheat on diesel emission tests.
It has now agreed to spend up to $22bn in the United States to address claims from owners, environmental regulators, US states and dealers and more legal action is pending in other countries, including the UK.
Reuters said Winterkorn's testimony before German lawmakers lasted about two hours, with a 15-minute introductory statement followed by questions and his two lawyers present allowed him to address all questions.
Volkswagen's management board is being asked to explain how soon it informed investors of a scandal which spiralled into the company's worst business crisis and the group is also facing EUR8.8bn ($9.36bn) in damage claims from investors seeking compensation for the collapse of VW's share price once the scandal broke.
Upon being asked whether he thought the diesel cheating could still be blamed on just a few engineers, Winterkorn acknowledged that more than a handful of staffers knew but said he did not know how many people were involved, Reuters reported.
Asked why he himself had no earlier knowledge, Winterkorn said: "Software applications represent a very specific area of work in engine development."
Earlier this month, Volkswagen admitted to US prosecutors about 40 employees had deleted thousands of documents in an effort to hide systematic emissions cheating from regulators.
Winterkorn said he too was still attempting to come to terms with the scandal.
"From outside it is difficult to comprehend how something like this could happen at a company that is so much preoccupied with quality. Even I don't."
