The accusations keep piling up in the bribery scandal surrounding German carmaker Volkswagen. The company has reportedly put certain expansion plans on ice while rumors of further resignations abound. As the Volkswagen bribery scandal deepens, the company finds itself under increasing pressure to address the allegations. These now include reports that VW staff set up a global network of six front companies to get supply contracts, and that former staff sought kickbacks for work in India and Angola.
German newspapers have reported that the scandal has caused VW chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder to postpone making a decision on the planned construction of a new factory in India, as well as an assembly plant in Angola.
On Tuesday, the German state of Lower Saxony called for investigators to get to the bottom of the allegations. VW last week called in auditors KPMG to review the matter.
"There apparently was criminal energy at work and that's why it is very important that the audit runs parallel to the investigations of the Brunswick state prosecutor's office," Lower Saxony Economics Minister and VW supervisory board member Walter Hirche said on German television.
Lower Saxony owns around 18 percent of Volkswagen. The company has so far declined to comment on the allegations.