German prosecutors officially investigating Porsche SE execs

German prosecutors are officially investigating Porsche SE CEOs Matthias Mueller and Hans Dieter Poetsch to figure out whether they manipulated markets by delaying the disclosure of data relating to Volkswagen’s emissions scandal.

The prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart stated on Wednesday it was examining Porsche SE executive board member Mueller, who is also the CEO of the automaker, and Porsche SE CEO Poetsch, who is also VW’s chairman, on suspicion they might have notified investors far too late about monetary threats to the Porsche holding firm from emissions scandal.

The query, that also targets previous VW CEO Martin Winterkorn and has been running since February, resembles one launched by prosecutors in 2016 in Braunschweig, near VW’s Wolfsburg head office, into present and former VW board members over whether they postponed the release of details about the cheating of diesel emissions tests.

Porsche SE stated the accusations were unproven, adding it had abided by disclosure rules. The family-owned holding company is headquartered in Stuttgart and controls 52.2 percent of automaker’s voting shares.

Prosecutors stated the investigation was prompted by a problem from markets regulator BaFin in the summer season of 2016, the same time at which Braunschweig prosecutors launched their investigation into VW authorities.