An ongoing investigation into Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal cleared top executives of "serious and manifest breaches of duty," the German automaker said this week.
VW announced proposals on Wednesday that would ratify the actions of both its management board and its supervisory board, which functions as a board of directors, during the 2015 fiscal year. The resolutions will be taken up at the company's annual meeting next month.
The company based its recommendation on currently available information from an internal probe led by U.S. law firm Jones Day. The information was reviewed by German firm Gleiss Lutz and confirmed by Wulf Goette, a retired German Federal Court chief justice.
Some 11 million Volkswagen vehicles worldwide were equipped with engine software that manipulated diesel emission levels during official testing. The scandal wreaked havoc on the automaker's sales and resulted in the departure of CEO Martin Winterkorn and other top officials.
To date, however, Volkswagen said that "no serious and manifest breaches of duty on the part of any serving or former members of the Board of Management have been established." The company previously attributed the problem to a group of lower-level employees "whose identity is still being determined."
"The decision reflects the supervisory board’s confidence in the ability of the present board of management to manage the diesel matter and steer the Volkswagen Group and its brands toward a successful future," the company said in a statement.
VW officials said that it could not elaborate on the recommendation because the publication of interim findings by Jones Day "would still involve unjustifiable risks." The resolution is also subject to no additional information from the probe coming to light before the annual meeting.
