The Volkswagen diesel scandal is now claiming its victims at the automotive supplier Continental from Hanover.

After the group surprisingly separated from CFO Wolfgang Schäfer with immediate effect after an extraordinary meeting of the supervisory board on Wednesday evening, the Hanover public prosecutor's office has been investigating ex-CEO Elmar Degenhart, Schäfer and a former member of the board of the Powertrain division, which has since been split off from Conti expanded.

Carsten Germis

Business correspondent in Hamburg.

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The allegations were of aiding and abetting fraud and breach of trust as well as willful breach of duty of supervision, said a spokesman for the investigative authority on Thursday.

Investigations were also ongoing against two senior executives below board level.

The group's shares were the biggest loser in the Dax with a minus of more than 4 percent.

The investigations of the public prosecutor's office and the - as they say - "amicable termination" of the work of CFO Schäfer in connection with a possible involvement of Continental in the exhaust gas manipulation of VW caught the Hanover company at the worst possible time.

"This news is another clap of thunder!" Said a statement by the group works council.

Everyone at Continental is already feeling the painful developments: “Downsizing.

Short-time work.

Chip crisis ”, plus the restructuring of the automotive sector and the spin-off of the former powertrain drive division, renamed Vitesco.

“And now the staff carousel is also turning faster and faster.” “Quite a lot all at once - too much,” criticized the works council.

Offices searched

On request, Continental did not provide any comment on the ongoing investigations by the public prosecutor. Schäfer's departure is related to the well-known investigations by the public prosecutor's office into the use of illegal defeat devices in diesel engines and deficits in the investigation at Continental. As can be heard in the company, they were not pursued with the necessary consistency. Schäfer, who was also responsible for the legal and corporate governance departments, ultimately had to take responsibility for this when he withdrew.

In connection with the diesel emissions scandal at Volkswagen, the public prosecutor had searched offices at Conti locations several times and seized extensive material.

"As part of the evaluation of the previously confiscated documents, we repeatedly come across clues and new findings," said the spokesman for the public prosecutor's office.

Cooperation with the public prosecutor

The previous investigations concerned whether employees were guilty of aiding and abetting fraud and indirect false certification in the years 2006 to 2015. Conti helped develop the software for a 1.6-liter diesel engine that VW is planning to sell in Europe. The supplier argues that such motor controls are programmed by the customer to their respective needs and that he himself was not involved in the manipulation.

The internal charge against Schäfer was that the internal investigations were not carried out with the necessary severity and thoroughness. "We are resolving the present issue consistently and in full and are cooperating wholeheartedly with the Hanover public prosecutor," said Chairman of the Supervisory Board Wolfgang Reitzle. “In accordance with our zero tolerance philosophy, we investigate every suspicion.” Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer will initially take on the duties of CFO on the board. The responsibility for compliance and law, for which Schäfer was jointly responsible, should remain permanently in the area of ​​responsibility of the CEO. Until the successor is arranged, the Head of Finance, Controlling and IT at ContiTech, Katja Dürrfeld,Take over the management of these areas below the board level on a temporary basis and report to Setzer in this function.