German prosecutors' investigation into the Volkswagen AG diesel emissions scandal reached the CEO of the automaker's Audi AG luxury brand, Reuters reported.
The Munich public prosecutor's office reportedly said it was investigating 20 suspects and had raided the apartments of Audi CEO Rupert Stadler and another unnamed board member, who are being investigated for alleged fraud and false advertising.
"Since May 30, 2018, the chairman of the board of Audi AG Prof. Rupert Stadler as well as a further member of the management board are now named suspects," Reuters quoted the prosecutor's office as saying.
While Volkswagen declined to comment and Stadler was unavailable, Audi reportedly said it was cooperating with investigators.
The move comes nearly three years into the scandal and a little over a month after former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn was indicted on charges of misleading U.S. regulators about cheating on diesel emissions testing.
Earlier this year, Audi said it found irregularities in the engine-management software of V6 diesel engines used in nearly 60,000 A6 and A7 models shipped worldwide.
Separately, Germany ordered Daimler AG to recall 774,000 vehicles in Europe following the automaker's failure to ease a regulator's concerns over irregularities in diesel emissions tests, according to Bloomberg.
The German carmaker will upgrade engine software in the GLC sport-utility vehicle, the C-Class sedan and Vito vans, Germany's transport minister, Andreas Scheuer, reportedly said, following a meeting with Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche.
Daimler avoided potential fines by recalling its vehicles for a software upgrade, the report noted.
