Advertisement

VW and Telekom workers accused of corruption

Author thumbnail
VW and Telekom workers accused of corruption
Photo: DPA

The Stuttgart prosecutor’s office has indicted five employees affiliated with Volkswagen and Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Systems in connection with an alleged anti-competitive bribery scheme involving VfL Wolfsburg football club.

Advertisement

According to prosecutors, T-Systems entered a €16 million deal to sponsor VfL Wolfsburg, which is owned by Volkswagen. In return, Volkswagen signed a contact for services from T-Systems, such as maintenance of computer systems, worth hundreds of millions of euros, the indictment said.

Two workers each from T-Systems and Volkswagen and a consultant have been charged with corruption related offences, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. All deny the charges, the newspaper reported.

Lawyer Björn Gehrke, representing one of the accused, told the Süddeutsche that the five had acted in “good faith” and higher-ups had been fully informed of what was going on.

A Volkswagen spokesman said the company was interested in finding out what had happened but, in principle, didn’t think it was wrong to purchase services from a football club sponsor.

The government is arguing that the employees arranged a quid-pro-quo sponsorship arrangement, which is corrupt because it is anti-competitive.

Deutsche Telekom had no immediate comment, but the scandal is said to have emerged from discoveries made in an internal company review.

The Local/mdm

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also