When VW chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch defended the decision not to publish the elusive Jones Day report, we weren’t happy; and we weren’t surprised
Poetsch stated that he defends the decision not to publish to Jones Day report and suggested that the law firm’s findings were included in the guilty plea agreed with U.S. authorities. If that’s the case, why withhold the report? If VW’s stance is that the information included in the plea and / or the summary released is enough to grasp the concept of the report, why not release the full report? What possible reason could there be to not publish it, unless they were hiding something?
We can but speculate, but we cannot accept that there is a good reason for the failure to publish the full report. Jones Day had been conducting the internal investigation into the car giant’s wrongdoings during the time of the emissions scandal and were to publish a lengthy report of their findings. Instead, all we got was a summary; not the full report.
Poetsch said he understood why some shareholders would want “more transparency” but asserted that disclosing further results of the Jones Day probe could expose the company to “unacceptable legal risks.”
So, hang on – VW assert they have nothing to hide and that the summary is good enough, yet full disclosure could lead to “unacceptable legal risks“?
We’re at a loss…
His defending of the decision not to publish the report adds fuel to our belief that we’re merely at the tip of the iceberg with the scandal.
It was later alleged that there was no full report:
“There is no written concluding report by Jones Day and there will not be one,” VW Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. This is contrary to previous suggestions and the assertions made by others.
So, is there a report or isn’t one?
Just how deep does the deception with regards to the scandal really go?
VW previously said that Jones Day would be “leaving no stone unturned” in its investigations and that “nobody is served by speculation or vague, preliminary progress reports,” after being confirmed as the German company’s new chairman.
“Therefore it will take some time until we have factual and reliable results and can provide you with comprehensive information,” he said, before declining to take any questions.
Our response to all of this is simple: do the right thing and disclose the report!
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