Avi Primor, a former Israeli ambassador to Germany, never talked to ousted Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech regarding the concerns the automaker could deal concerning its diesel-emissions tests in the United States. Primor informed Reuters on Thursday.
Primor had been mentioned by Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung as the source of Piech’s details in early 2015 that there could be trouble for Volkswagen, which later that year was forced to confess it intentionally cheated the tests.
He told he had got to know Piech when he was ambassador in Berlin during 90s. Piech had approached Primor, a promoter of German-Israeli dialogue, due to his want for the support of his university projects, Primor stated.
“I talked with Mr Piech only about this university project,” he informed Reuters by phone.
German media have reported recently that then-chairman Piech raised the concern with then-chief executive Martin Winterkorn and major members of the supervisory board in early 2015, six months before it turned into a public scandal.
Volkswagen suggested on Wednesday it could sue Piech, and stated it emphatically rejected the accusation that supervisory board members knew about the issue in advance.
