German prosecutors looks into possible fine for supplier Bosch

Prosecutors in Stuttgart, Germany, are looking into a possible fine for auto supplier Robert Bosch for dealing Volkswagen with engine management software that the automaker used to cheat vehicle emissions tests.

Volkswagen has paid out over 27 billion euros ($31 billion) in fines for using illegal software to disguise excessive levels of pollution from its diesel vehicles, causing a global regulatory clampdown that has now reached Bosch.

“It is correct that the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Stuttgart has opened monetary fine proceedings against Robert Bosch GmbH,” a spokesman for the company stated on Friday.

“The proceedings associate with the investigations against employees of Robert Bosch GmbH in connection with the use of allegedly manipulated software in control units of diesel vehicles,” Bosch said.

German prosecutors in 2018 fined Volkswagen 1 billion euros and its luxury brand Audi 800 million euros for management oversight lapses which permitted polluting cars to hit the road.

German weekly magazine Der Spiegel noted on Friday that Volkswagen was evaluating whether to seek damages of up to 1 billion euros from Bosch. Volkswagen refused to discuss on the report.

Bosch stated: “Relationships with customers are kept confidential. The automaker-supplier relationship between Bosch and Volkswagen goes back over decades. We cannot imagine such an action against Bosch.”