Conflicts of interest
Mr. Hans Dieter Pötsch was a member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG until October 2015. His move to the Supervisory Board had already been planned irrespective of the diesel issue. In order to avoid conceivable conflicts of interest, Mr. Pötsch always left the meeting room prior to discussions and resolutions adopted by the Supervisory Board that might relate to his conduct in connection with the diesel issue. In particular, Mr. Pötsch did not attend the meeting of the Executive Committee on September 24, 2019, and the meeting of the Supervisory Board on September 25, 2019, in which the Executive Committee and the Supervisory Board addressed the indictments by the public prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig against the former chairman of the Volkswagen AG Board of Management Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board Mr. Pötsch and the Chairman of the Board of Management Dr. Herbert Diess, which concerned alleged market manipulation. Moreover, Mr. Pötsch did not participate in the Supervisory Board’s deliberations and decisions insofar as his personal interests were concerned, for example in connection with the reimbursement of his expenses as Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Starting in autumn 2016, the public prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig launched criminal investigations against a number of individuals based on the provisions of the Betriebsverfassungsgesetz (BetrVG – German Works Constitution Act) relating to possibly excessive remuneration granted to the Chairman of the General and Group Works Councils of Volkswagen AG, Mr. Bernd Osterloh, and other works council members. In order to avoid conceivable conflicts of interest, Mr. Osterloh always left the meeting room prior to discussions and resolutions adopted by the Supervisory Board that relate to possibly excessive remuneration granted to him, based on the provisions of the German Works Constitution Act.
No other conflicts of interest were reported or were discernible in the reporting period.