WASHINGTON: Volkswagen AG will plead guilty to three criminal charges and pay a total $4.3 billion in fines to settle the emissions cheating scandal known as “dieselgate,” US officials announced on Wednesday.
The US Justice Department said VW is charged with conspiracy to defraud the US and violate the Clean Air Act with defeat devices on its diesel vehicles that evaded emissions standards.
The company will pay $2.8 billion in criminal fines, and $1.5 billion in civil fines.
That is in addition to $17.5 billion already agreed in settlements with car owners, dealers and for environmental cleanup.
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on Wednesday unveiled the settlement with Volkswagen.
The settlement does not impact the government’s ongoing investigation into individual misconduct by current and former VW employees. Volkswagen had previously agreed to spend up to $17.5 billion in the United States to resolve claims by US regulators, owners and dealers and offered to buy back nearly 500,000 polluting vehicles. The automaker was in intensive talks with regulators in recent weeks in an effort to reach a deal before the end of the Obama administration.
Without a deal by next week, a final resolution could have been delayed by months until the Trump EPA and Justice Department teams are in place.
VW admitted in September 2015 to installing secret software in hundreds of thousands of US diesel cars to cheat exhaust emissions tests and make them appear cleaner than they were on the road, and that as many as 11 million vehicles could have similar software installed worldwide.
On Monday, a VW executive, the second VW employee charged by US prosecutors, was accused of conspiracy to defraud the US over the company’s emissions cheating and the automaker was charged with concealing the cheating from regulators. Much of the company’s senior management departed following the scandal, including chief executive Martin Winterkorn.
VW pleads guilty, to pay $4.3bn in ‘dieselgate’
VW pleads guilty, to pay $4.3bn in ‘dieselgate’
Free trade negotiations between GCC, India mark new phase of partnership, says sec-gen
RIYADH: The Gulf Cooperation Council’s secretary-general affirmed that the negotiations for a free trade agreement between the GCC and India, and the signing of the joint statement, represents a new phase of strategic partnership.
Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi said that this contributes to enhancing close cooperation and strengthening economic and trade ties, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
This came during the signing ceremony of the joint statement on launching the free trade agreement negotiations between the Al-Budaiwi and India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, which took place in New Delhi, on Tuesday.
During the signing ceremony, Al-Budaiwi said that the Terms of Reference, signed on Feb. 5, provide a comprehensive and clear framework for these negotiations. The two nations agreed to discuss enhancing cooperation in vital strategic areas, including trade in goods, customs procedures, and services.
Additionally, the framework covers Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights, cooperation on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, along with other topics of mutual interest. This reflects the comprehensive nature of the agreement and its ability to keep pace with the future economy.
Al-Budaiwi expressed hope that these negotiations would lead to a comprehensive and ambitious free trade agreement that works to remove customs and non-customs barriers, enhance the flow of quality investments in both directions, and achieve further liberalization in trade and investment cooperation between the GCC and India for mutual benefit.
This would provide a stimulating economic environment and an investment climate that opens broad horizons for the business sector, supports supply chains, and accelerates the pace of economic growth in line with the ambitious developmental visions of the GCC states.
The top official affirmed the full readiness of the General Secretariat to host the first round of negotiations at its headquarters in Riyadh during the second half of this year.
The two sides held a meeting during which they reviewed the existing cooperation relations between the GCC and India and discussed ways to develop and elevate them to broader horizons, serving mutual interests and enhancing opportunities for strategic partnership between the two sides, particularly in the economic, investment, and trade fields.
They praised the role undertaken by the negotiating teams from both sides, appreciating the efforts contributing to reaching a comprehensive agreement that enhances economic integration and supports the smooth flow of trade between the two nations.
