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Volkswagen bosses to be paid £49m despite record losses after emissions scandal

12 current and former Volkswagen managers will be paid about £49m in the wake of emissions scandal

Zlata Rodionova
Thursday 28 April 2016 12:40 BST
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Matthias Mueller, VW Chief Executive has been promised a total pay package €4.76 million in total compensation for 2015,
Matthias Mueller, VW Chief Executive has been promised a total pay package €4.76 million in total compensation for 2015, (AFP/Getty)

Volkswagen is to pay 12 current and former managers €63.24 million (£49m) for 2015, a year of record losses for the company following its global emissions scandal.

Some 11 million VW cars are thought to have been affected by the scandal worldwide after VW admitted to cheating on diesel emissions test in September 2015. Meanwhile its net losses reached €5.5 billion.

But these numbers had no effect on executives’ pay.

Matthias Mueller, VW chief executive has been promised a total pay package €4.76 million in total compensation for 2015, of which 880,522 euros has been postponed, according to the company’s report.

VW said it would withhold bonuses for now but might award them at a later date.

Martin Winterkorn, the former VW chief executive who was forced to resign in the wake of the scandal, agreed to postposne 30 per cent of his bonus but still took home €7.3 million in pay.

Hans Dieter Poetsch, former chief finance officer, is to receive €5.18 million for his previous position and a further €13.4 million salary for his new job as supervisory board chairman.

The company has more than doubled its provisions for the diesel emissions scandal to €16.2bn (£12.6bn), €7.8 billon of which had been set aside to buy back or fix cars that had been rigged to cheat on emission test, the company has announced last week.

VW also agree to buy back some cars affected by the emission scandal in a US deal in San Francisco. The deal also includes a fund to address the excess pollution caused by the scandal and an agreement to commit other money to green technology.

The total amount VW have agreed to spend is reported to be around £1 billion.

Mueller said recalling and fixing cars affected by the scandal “will remain VW most important task until the very last vehicle has been put in order”.

The German company would “make electric cars one of Volkswagen's new hallmarks” with 20 new models by 2020, Mueller said at the company’s annual news conference on Thursday.

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