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Volkswagen Fined One Billion Euros By German Prosecutors Over Emissions Cheating (reuters.com)
Volkswagen was fined one billion euros ($1.18 billion) over diesel emissions cheating in what amounts to one of the highest ever fines imposed by German authorities against a company, public prosecutors said on Wednesday. From a report: The German fine follows a U.S. plea agreement from January 2017 when VW agreed to pay $4.3 billion to resolve criminal and civil penalties for installing illegal software in diesel engines to cheat strict U.S. anti-pollution tests. "Following thorough examination, Volkswagen AG accepted the fine and it will not lodge an appeal against it. Volkswagen AG, by doing so, admits its responsibility for the diesel crisis and considers this as a further major step toward the latter being overcome," it said in a statement. The fine is the latest blow to Germany's auto industry which cannot seem to catch a break from the diesel emissions crisis. Germany's government on Monday ordered Daimler to recall nearly 240,000 cars fitted with illicit emissions-control devices, part of a total of 774,000 models affected in Europe as a whole.
Dirty air? Despite such cheating on emissions and an increase in car use, the air has gotten a hell of a lot cleaner in the past decades and continues to get cleaner still. You can't just claim damages due to "dirty air", at most you could claim damages for much dirtier the air has gotten due to Volkswagen not quite meeting the Euro-6 norm or whatever it is.
With that said, a stiff fine is in order. But not like this. €1B to Germany, $4.3B to the US, then maybe another $1B by the state of California, $500M to the city of New York, €1.5B to France, €2B to Mexico, well, you get the picture. It's not in anyone's interest to cripple this company, and I would much rather have seen smaller fines plus some jail time for those responsible.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
You can't fine a company. You can only fine its customers or low level employees using existing corporate laws which protect the share holders.
The correct thing to do is force the company it issue a billion dollars in new stock and give it to the government. That is the only way to fine the share holders who have a responsibility to ensure the board is above board.
....we'll find a situation where the board of directors are paid scapegoats whilst the real board hides from view.
Requiem for the American Dream