Volkswagen managers are worried about traveling to the US, a German newspaper reported, saying US investigators have confiscated the passport of an employee who is there on a visit. Citing company sources, the Suddeutsche Zeitung said on Saturday VW believes the investigators want to prevent the manager from evading questioning or criminal prosecution linked to the diesel-emissions scandal, Reuters writes. A spokesman for VW said: “Volkswagen employees are still traveling to the United States. Everything else is speculation.” VW is under investigation in the US and could face penalties of up to $18 billion after admitting it deliberately rigged emissions tests of diesel-powered vehicles. Mary Nichols, head of the California Air Resources Board, which is investigating VW, has criticized the carmaker’s handling of the scandal. Citing a person with knowledge of the matter, the newspaper said it was now unlikely that new VW CEO Matthias Mueller would travel to the US in the second half of November as planned. “We need legal security here before he can fly to the United States,” the newspaper quoted a person from group management as saying.
