The former boss of Volkswagen Winterkorn reportedly transferred funds to Switzerland – the economy

Other allegations against former VW chief, Martin Winterkorn: The prosecutor is investigating the possibly unpaid taxes. The "Bild am Sonntag" quotes the files of investigation – it is among others transfers of a total amount of about ten million euros of Swiss accounts during the last two years. The existence and content of the DPA news agency were confirmed Sunday.

Tax investigations had nothing to do with the allegations in the exhaust gas scandal, Winterkorn's lawyer Felix Dörr said Sunday. Dörr goes even further: he examines the lawsuit against the prosecution in Braunschweig: "We plan to lay criminal charges for misappropriation of official secrets."

A spokesman for the The prosecution told Bild am Sonntag: "We will see to the conclusion of the investigation of the results, not before. "On the weekend, the power to issue an opinion was not feasible

Tax files to Diesel records

The tax procedure began in 2017 by an investigation of the Munich prosecutor's office for suspicion of money laundering She received a note from the bank of Winterkorn.A normal process, with high transfers, financial institutions are even obliged to do.Interviewers suspect a connection with the VW diesel scandal, the prosecutor Braunschweig resumed the process and added the five tax files to the files of Diesel.

In the records of the diesel survey is now to read what apparently happened.In 2016 and 2017, Winterkorn has transferred significant amounts from one of his accounts at Sparda Bank Nuremberg to a trust account of his tax advisor.From there, money flowed into the deposits of the bank Vontobel in Zurich. a deposit, who was assigned to Winterkorn's wife. Investigators suspect that part of the transfers was a donation that would have cost more than half a million euros in tax on donations.

In a note, the prosecution noted that Winterkorn was likely to transfer assets in Switzerland. "In the records of the note must be found, it could be an" egg nest "act Winterkorns.That is absolute nonsense, says the lawyer Dörr Vontobel does not comment

In Regarding the tax allegations, the lawyer Dörr says that it is Winterkorn's own decision, where and by whom he manages his money., A money transfer from a German bank to Switzerland was legally in order. "According to the assessment of Mr. Winterkorn's tax advisor, this process is free from any tax claim," said the lawyer of the former head of VW.

The bank Vontobel stressed on Sunday that they comply with all legal provisions.Swiss laws did not allow it to comment on account details existing or non-existent. "In addition, we highlight the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts between Switzerland and Germany, which has been in place since 2018, with c which a total transparency was created. "

" We were surprised by the tax investigations themselves. "The prosecution gave us no indication and we first focused on the 20,000 pages of the main procedure. "

actual procedure, the scandal of the exhaust gases, is determined against Winterkorn as well as against the new CEO of VW Herbert Diess and Chairman of the Supervisory Board Hans Dieter Pötsch because of the possible market manipulation, against Winterkorn in addition to fraud.