Volkswagen rejects allegations chairman was aware of emissions cheating

Volkswagen has rejected allegations that Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch was aware of the automaker’s emissions test cheating nearly three months prior U.S. authorities made it public in September 2015.

Mentioning internal documents from investigators, German weekly Bild am Sonntag noted that Poetsch, VW’s finance head of the time, discovered about the automaker’s violations of the rules in late June 2015.

The paper mentions a confidential presentation from the VW legal department, available to investigators in proceedings about the automaker’s alleged market manipulation.

According to the report, a presentation dubbed “Sacramento” and dated June 24, 2015, stated that U.S. emissions rules were being breached and that the company may also have violated its supervisory obligations.

The paper also noted that, according to testimony from a leading automaker’s lawyer, referred to as “witness P.”, Poetsch got the presentation on June 29, 2015. He was also notified then that 600,000 vehicles in the U.S. were affected and that the economical risk for the automaker stood at 35 billion euros ($39.8 billion).

Volkswagen stated on Sunday that it had been informed of the allegations for some time.