Sylvie Claire / July 12, 2021
The Japanese car manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors confirmed Monday that it has paid a fine of 25 million euros ordered by the German justice in the sprawling case of Dieselgate, for which several of its sites in Germany had been searched last year.
The Frankfurt prosecutor's office ordered a fine" of 25 million euros on March 25, which we have not appealed, a spokesman for the manufacturer in Japan told AFP, adding that Mitsubishi Motors had paid the sum "before the end of March.
The Bloomberg agency reported on Friday that the partner of Renault and Nissan had thus put an end to an investigation by the German judiciary according to which vehicles that did not comply with the rules had been put on sale by Mitsubishi as a result of a lack of supervision of middle managers of the group.
The Japanese manufacturer had claimed to have committed no fraud on the pollution levels of its diesel engines after these searches, focused in particular on its 1.6 and 2.2 liter diesel engines certified according to EURO 5b and 6b standards.
They were part of the massive rigged diesel engine scandal that erupted in 2015, when German automaker Volkswagen admitted to equipping 11 million vehicles with software capable of distorting emissions levels.
Many other automotive groups were then implicated in turn in this case, from Daimler to Fiat Chrysler through the French Renault and PSA (including its German brand Opel), or the German equipment manufacturer Bosch.
The fine notice received by Mitsubishi states that there have been past violations related to the neglect of supervisory duties related to approval procedures, the spokesman said.
It was not found that these procedures were knowingly or deliberately violated, and the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office opinion did not identify any intentional or fraudulent behavior, he added.