VW’s ex-chief Winterkorn still drawing huge salary: Reports

AFPFrankfurtVolkswagen’s former chief executive Martin Winterkorn, who quit in the wake of the massive pollution-cheating scandal, is still on the carmaker’s books and receiving a huge salary, according to two German media reports yesterday. The business daily Handelsblatt and German public television’s investigative news programme Frontal 21 said Winterkorn’s contract runs until the end of 2016, as agreed, and he is receiving his full salary. The two reports quoted sources close to VW’s supervisory board. Winterkorn, 68, was in the driving seat at the auto giant from 2007 until the scandal broke in September. Under the terms of his salary, he has a basic annual salary of €1.62mn ($1.8bn), plus a range of generous bonuses. Winterkorn was paid more than €15mn in total in 2014, making him the highest-paid executive among the 30 companies that make up the German blue-chip DAX 30 stock index. Quoting the sources close to the supervisory board, VW saw “no reason not to continue paying” him, Handelsblatt reported. That meant Winterkorn would receive more than €10mn for 2015, it said. Originally, VW had wanted to draw a line under the Winterkorn era, but had not wanted to pay the manager a huge golden payout out of fear of possible public criticism, the newspaper continued. But Winterkorn, for his part, had refused to forego the money since he regarded himself as innocent, it said. VW, vying with Toyota to become the world’s biggest car maker in terms of sales, is currently engulfed in a scandal of global proportions after it admitted to installing pollution-cheating software into 11mn diesel engines worldwide. Winterkorn resigned in the wake of the allegations, but insisted he knew nothing about the scam.Meanwhile, Volkswagen  has hired lawyer Kenneth Feinberg to handle the complaints. Feinberg, known for handling large consumer compensation cases such as the deadly ignition switches used in some General Motors cars, was hired to design and administer an independent claims resolution programme to address claims related to the diesel-engine vehicles equipped with emissions standards-spoofing software. The German auto giant has admitted using the cheating devices in at least 11mn vehicles worldwide. The scandal first emerged in the US in September, where a number of class-action suits against VW have been filed. “We are pleased to announce the retention of Kenneth Feinberg. His extensive experience in handling such complex matters will help to guide us as we move forward to make things right with our customers,” said Michael Horn, president and chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America, in the statement. Feinberg said in the statement he would begin work “immediately” designing an independent claims process. Feinberg is renowned as the go-to lawyer for high-profile legal cases. He managed the compensation claims fund for GM, which is nearing completion of its work. The fund said last week that 124 deaths related to the faulty ignition switches had been deemed eligible for compensation. Feinberg also managed similar funds for the victims of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks and the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.