DATA TAPES ERASED IN VW FRAUD, CHAIRMAN SAYS
Volkswagen AG <VOWG.F> supervisory
board chairman Karl Gustaf Ratjen said entire data tapes had
been erased and complete programs altered in forged
transactions amounting to around 480 mln marks.
    "In this case a degree of criminal energy has been brought
into play which until now was unimaginable in a German company,"
he said in a radio interview.
    He could not completely rule out the possibility that
losses would exceed 500 mln marks, but said there were
currently no signs that they would be higher than the 480 mln
announced on Tuesday.
    Some 70 to 80 mln marks had probably been lost through
disregard for internal instructions, he added, but did not
elaborate. However, the remainder had definitely been lost
through criminal action and forgery in 1984.
    Ratjen said the affair would lead to consequences up to the
board room. He would recommend that those under suspicion of
being involved in criminal acts would have to go immediately.
    Those who had not exercised checking functions sufficiently
would also have to go.
    But Volkwagen management board chairman Carl Hahn was not
involved in the affair, he said.
    A Volkswagen spokesman said the company had made sufficient
provision in previous years to cover the losses from the fraud.
Its 1986 profit would, therefore, match 1985 world group net
profits of 595.6 mln marks.
    Volkwagen disclosed the existence of the fraud on Tuesday,
saying it was possible that documents about currency hedging
had been falsified and that those responsible may have come
from outside Volkswagen and may have been assisted by company
staff.
    Criminal complaints on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust
and forgery of documents had been filed, it added.
    The company spokesman said the supervisory board would meet
on April 9 to examine the precise extent of the losses and to
approve the year-end results.
    Ratjen said it was important for Volkwagen to maintain a
degree of "internal integrity" on account of its 200,000
employees, particularly as shop floor elections were coming up.
    "On the one hand one fights for every single mark of income.
And here is a case where hundreds of millions are being just
thrown away," he added.
 Reuter
