Paris (AFP)

Volkswagen was indicted in France on May 6 for "deception" in the investigation of fraudulent pollution control of older generations of diesel engines, announced Wednesday the manufacturer and a judicial source, confirming information from radio Europe 1 .

In the aftermath of Renault's announcement of its indictment, the German automobile giant, which denies "any damage" to French consumers, announced in a press release Wednesday that it was implicated in this resounding scandal of "dieselgate ".

A judicial source confirmed to AFP the indictment of Volkswagen on May 6 for "deception on the substantial qualities of a commodity causing a danger to the health of humans or animals".

According to this judicial source, Volkswagen was placed "under judicial supervision with the obligation to post a bond in the amount of 10 million euros and the obligation to provide security in the form of a bank guarantee in the amount of 60 million euros" .

The dieselgate, which has given rise to legal actions in many countries, has already cost Volkswagen 30 billion euros, largely in the United States where the German group pleaded guilty to fraud in 2017.

Volkswagen admitted in the fall of 2015 that it had equipped 11 million of its diesel vehicles with software capable of concealing emissions that sometimes exceed 40 times the authorized standards.

Investigations into this scandal have long been slowed down by a legal battle before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) which finally confirmed the illegality of Volkswagen's software at the end of 2020.

"The proceedings against Volkswagen AG ended in Germany in 2018 with the payment of a fine of one billion euros for alleged identical facts, including vehicles marketed in France," the company said in a statement. transmitted to AFP by his lawyer, Nicolas Huc-Morel.

"For Volkswagen AG, the facts examined by the French courts are included and identical to those already decided in Germany, but the investigating judges told us that, according to them, it was necessary to continue the investigations before deciding definitively on this subject" , Me Huc-Morel told AFP.

The company has already challenged this analysis of the magistrates before the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal.

His appeal is awaiting examination.

© 2021 AFP