Photo by: Bloomberg
Embattled German carmaker Volkswagen's offices were raided on Thursday as prosecutors stepped up their probe into the group in the wake of the company's exhaust emission tests scandal.
The group's head office in the northern German city of Wolfsburg, as well as sites in other cities across the nation, were searched, the public prosecutor in the city of Braunschweig said.
Prosecutors around the world have launched investigations into VW in the wake of the scandal, which erupted last month when the car maker admitted that it had equipped its diesel-powered vehicles with software aimed at cheating on emission tests.
Since then, the company has revealed that about 11-million vehicles around the world were fitted with the software.
The scandal has already resulted in the resignation of VW group chief executive Martin Winterkorn, but it remains unclear who was responsible for ordering the company to develop and install the emission-test-evading equipment.