Braunschweig investigation of ex-VW CEO unaffected by U.S. indictment

German investigators will keep investigating former Volkswagen AG CEO Martin Winterkorn’s role in the automaker’s emissions test cheating scandal, the Braunschweig prosecutors’ office stated.

“Our investigation strategy does not change only because the Americans file charges against Winterkorn,” a spokesman for the prosecutors’ office stated on Friday.

The U.S. indictment of Winterkorn, submitted in secret in March, was unsealed in U.S. District Court on Thursday as the automaker held its annual meeting in Germany.

A representative for Germany’s justice ministry refused to comment on a decision by the U.S. Justice Department to submit criminal charges against the former Volkswagen CEO.

“I urge understanding that I can’t comment on specific indictments,” the representative stated during a regular government news conference.