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German prosecutors open investigation into former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn

Associated Press,Business InsiderSep 28, 2015, 16:32 IST

Volkswagen Chief Executive Winterkorn stands at the Volkswagen booth at the world's largest industrial technology fair, the Hannover MesseThomson Reuters

German prosecutors open investigation into former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn.

Volkswagen's trouble began earlier this month when the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a "Notice of Violation" accusing the company of using hidden software - called a "defeat device" - to cheat clean-air standards during emissions testing.

Initially, the scandal covered 482,000 cars sold in the US from 2009 to 2015. VW later revealed, however, that more than 11 million vehicles equipped with the company's once praised 2.0-liter TDI diesel engines were affected.

Winterkorn stepped down on Tuesday.

The news has already triggered lawsuits and government investigations, and caused the company to lose ten of billions of dollars in share value in the last two weeks.