Companies
28/08/2018

More Governance Reforms Needed By Volkswagen, Says Compliance Auditor




Larry Thompson, an independent compliance auditor (ICA) of Volkswagen, told press on Monday\ that the German company needs to take additional efforts to improve its corporate culture in relation to the "dieselgate" scandal.
 
There is still along way to go for the German car maker in relation to integrity, compliance and culture, said Thompson while speaking at the Volkswagen Group's corporate headquarters in Wolfsburg.
 
Despite the criticisms he also praised a number of positive measures that were taken by the company following the diesel gate scandal where company had pleaded guilty of intentionally installing software that suppressed nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx) from diesel vehicles in the United States.
 
In the wake of the "dieselgate" scandal, the U.S. judicial authorities had nominated Thompson to supervise business practices at Volkswagen. The same day that Thompson made those comments, a team of 60 compliance experts who were appointed by him published the first of three officially scheduled ICA reports.
 
The delays that he had experienced in getting information from Volkswagen were amongst the most lamented issues in the document by Thompson. "This topic must be clarified swiftly in the next reporting period in order for the ICA to be able to fulfill its task effectively", the interim report stated.
 
"The VW defendants have promised further improvements in their provision of information and increased the frequency of discussions with the ICA regarding this topic," Thompson added. The report also identified 240 unspecified "corrective actions" which the company needs to undertake in 2018 so that the company is able to fulfill the new compliance standards.
 
The company would require a number of years to completely implement the reforms in all of the 12 brands of company and spread among 650,000 global employees, said Hiltrud Werner, the recently-appointed director for integrity and justice at Volkswagen.
 
A corporate culture centered on "decency" can be the only wat for long-term commercial success, said chief executive officer (CEO) Herbert Diess at Volkswagen's latest Annual General Meeting (AGM). And therefore, he argued that Volkswagen requires to become "more honest" and "more transparent" in the way it conducted business.
 
A report published in the newspaper "BILD" states a number of senior staff members is currently set to be sacked over the "dieselgate" scandal. This personnel change was being demanded for a long time by Thompson.  "BILD" cited information that immediate dismissal notices sent by mail were already on the way to affected individuals.
 
(Source:www.xinhaunet.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell
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