German State of Bavaria to Take Legal Action against Volkswagen Over Emissions Scandal

The German state of Bavaria has stated that it will take legal action against Volkswagen for damages triggered by its emissions test cheating scandal, the very first local government in Volkswagen’s house nation to take legal action versus the automaker. Bavaria’s state pension fund for civil servants lost as much as 700,000 euros ($783,580) after Volkswagen shares plunged in the wake of the September 18 discovery by U.S. regulators of the automaker’s manipulation, a spokeswoman at the Bavarian finance ministry said.

Bavaria, the home of German blue-chip businesses consisting of BMW, Siemens and Allianz, owned about 58,000 Volkswagen preference shares when news of the scandal broke, spokeswoman stated.

Europe’s largest automaker is likewise caught up in legal action in the United States, South Korea and in other places and is facing billions of dollars in expenses connected to its emissions test manipulations, making it the biggest scandal in Volkswagen’s history.

Bavaria’s pension fund lost from the fall in the shares, Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Soeder informed German news firm Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), his spokeswoman stated. “We want this money back,” stated Soeder, a member of the Christian Social Union sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.

Soeder said Bavaria’s pension fund would submit its suit against Volkswagen in September at the local court of Braunschweig near Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg head office in the state of Lower Saxony, as per DPA which reported the legal action previously on Tuesday.

Volkswagen refused to comment.