Volkswagen to pay $ 4.3 billion to USA for dieselgate

Volkswagen has confirmed that its dieselgate settlement to the US will be $ 4.3 billion (around Rs 29,400 crore) and that it will plead guilty to charges of criminal misconduct in US courts.

The settlement with American authorities also pushes costs beyond the € 18.2 billion the company had set aside to cover the costs.

The settlement is still in draft form, and will need approval from a US judge before it can be passed through. But early information suggests the deal will go forward before President Elect Donald Trump and his administration assume power on January 20.

“The final conclusion of the settlement agreement is still subject to the approval by the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG and by the competent corporate bodies of further Group Companies involved. The competent corporate bodies will deal with this issue in the very short term, possibly even during the January 10, 2017 or January 11, 2017. A final conclusion of the settlement agreement is further subject to the execution by the competent US authorities and to the approval of the competent US courts. In case of a settlement agreement, the payment obligations are expected to lead to a financial expense that exceeds the current provisions. The concrete impact regarding the annual result 2016 cannot be defined at present due to its dependency on various further factors,” said Volkswagen in an official statement.

Once the deal goes through, VW will face a three-year supervision by an independent monitor. The brand’s senior employees are also still under investigation, and the FBI arrested former emissions compliance boss for the US Oliver Schmidt over the weekend.