VW executives in Germany have been warned not to leave the country for fear of being arrested, according to Bloomberg.
The claims come after the arrest of Oliver Schmidt, who was charged with fraud on Monday at a court in Miami over the diesel emissions scandal. Schmidt was arrested on Saturday while returning from a holiday. He has been held in custody as a “flight risk”, according to press reports. Further hearings are expected this week.
Schmidt served as VW’s head of compliance from 2014 until March 2015.
VW admitted last year that 11 million cars had been fitted with a device that cheated emissions tests.
Bloomberg cites an unnamed source saying some executives have been warned not to travel. It said the arrest surprised some VW managers who were in Detroit on business.
The scandal, dubbed ‘Dieselgate’, has left the company’s governance history and future survival under scrutiny.