VW FOREIGN EXCHANGE INQUIRIES FOCUS ON WOLFSBURG
West German state
prosecutors have focussed their inquiries in the suspected
foreign exchange fraud reported by Volkswagen <VOWG.F> on
Wolfsburg, the company's headquarters, the state prosecutor's
office said here.
    Chief state prosecutor Carl Hermann Retemeyer told Reuters
his office would focus its attention on Wolfsburg, and not
Frankfurt as newspaper reports suggested over the weekend.
    "We asked Frankfurt prosecutors to assist us in our
investigations but their findings led us to believe that we
have to concentrate on Wolfsburg," Retemeyer said.
    The newspaper Welt am Sonntag said yesterday the state
prosecutors investigation was now focusing on possible outside
banking accomplices.
    The company's reported loss of 480 mln marks in currency
transactions aimed at hedging against fluctuations in the value
of the U.S. Dollar has produced a shake-up among senior staff.
VW announced over the weekend that Rolf Selowsky, financial
member of the management board, had resigned.
    Hanns Christian Schroeder-Hohenwarth, president of the West
German Federation of Banks, said today that no member bank was
involved in activities which led to the currency loss.
 Reuter
