大众管理层“授权隐瞒”排放作弊行为
美国检察官周一披露的刑事起诉文件显示，大众汽车(Volkswagen)高管在2015年夏听取了关于处于柴油排放丑闻核心的作弊软件的汇报，并指示继续隐瞒。
VW employees briefed “executive management” in July 2015 at the German carmaker’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, about the use of software-based defeat devices to understate emissions in official tests, says a criminal complaint about the company’s former head of compliance in the US.
据一份对大众前美国合规主管提起刑事诉讼的文件显示，2015年7月，大众员工在德国沃尔夫斯堡的大众总部，向“行政管理层”汇报了在官方排放测试中使用基于软件的减效装置来低报排放数据的情况。
“Rather than advocate for disclosure of the defeat device to US regulators, VW executive management authorised its continued concealment,” adds the complaint.
刑事起诉文件写道：“大众行政管理层授权继续隐瞒，而不是要求向美国监管机构披露减效装置。”
The VW employees allegedly involved in the briefing included Oliver Schmidt, a VW veteran who was head of compliance in the US in 2012 and 2015 and is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday in Miami.
涉嫌参与了汇报的大众员工包括在2012年至2015年担任大众美国合规主管的奥利弗•施密特(Oliver Schmidt)。施密特是大众的资深员工，于周一在迈阿密接受传讯。
The conduct outlined in the criminal complaint raises the likelihood that some more senior VW executives in Germany and the US could face charges, said one Department of Justice official.
美国司法部的一位官员表示，刑事起诉文件中列举的行为提升了更高级别的大众德国和美国高管面临指控的可能性。
It comes at a time when VW is seeking to finalise a criminal settlement with the US authorities over the emissions scandal.
目前大众正寻求与美国当局就排放丑闻达成刑事和解。
Such a deal would be a milestone in VW’s efforts to draw a line under the affair, which has become the worst crisis in the company’s history.
这一和解将是大众为了结此事所做努力的一个里程碑——排放丑闻已成为该公司历史上最严重的危机。
Mr Schmidt is accused of conspiring for nearly a decade to conceal from US regulators the existence of defeat devices in VW diesel cars, according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court in Detroit.
在底特律联邦法庭提交的刑事起诉文件显示，施密特被控在近十年时间里密谋向美国监管机构隐瞒大众柴油车减效装置的存在。
He is also accused of defrauding the US by impairing the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions control programme, cheating VW customers, and violating the Clean Air Act.
他还被控欺骗美国，破坏美国国家环境保护局(Environmental Protection Agency)的排放控制项目、欺骗大众汽车的消费者、以及违反《清洁空气法》(Clean Air Act)。
For several weeks before VW admitted to US regulators in September 2015 that its diesel cars had cheated emissions tests, employees worried about the danger of criminal penalties for their actions, says the criminal complaint.
刑事起诉文件显示，在大众2015年9月向美国监管机构承认其柴油车在排放测试中作弊之前的数周时间里，员工们担心他们的行为可能遭受刑事处罚。
VW’s “executive management” in Wolfsburg requested a briefing on the US situation, which took place on July 27 2015, says the criminal complaint.
刑事起诉文件显示，大众在沃尔夫斯堡的“行政管理层”要求听取有关美国情况的汇报，汇报是在2015年7月27日进行的。
For that briefing, Mr Schmidt and several colleagues prepared a slide on the potential outcomes of a meeting with California regulators scheduled for the following week.
施密特和数位同事为此次汇报准备了幻灯片，描述了在接下来的一周与加州监管机构会晤的潜在后果。
A “positive” meeting would result in the needed certification to sell VW cars in the US. But a “negative” outcome raised the question “Indictment?”, according to the criminal complaint.
起诉文件显示，一场“积极”会晤将会让大众获得在美国销售汽车所需的牌照，但一场“消极”会晤可能引发“起诉?”的问题。
Mr Schmidt’s arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation marks the latest development in a scandal dating back more than a decade. In 2006, VW engineers realised that a new diesel engine they had designed would not be powerful enough to satisfy car owners and not green enough to pass muster with regulators.
施密特被美国联邦调查局(FBI)逮捕标志着这项可追溯到十多年前的丑闻的最新发展。在2006年，大众工程师意识到，他们设计的新柴油发动机没有令车主满意的足够强大的动力，也不符合监管机构的环保要求。
The new engine was the centrepiece of an ambitious strategy to boost VW sales in the US market. Rather than admit defeat, the company wrote software called a defeat device to cheat emissions tests.
这款新的发动机是大众扩大在美国市场销量这一雄心勃勃的战略的核心。大众没有承认失败，反而编写了一个被称为减效装置的软件在尾气排放检测中作弊。
The device was programmed to recognise when a diesel car was undergoing the government’s standard laboratory tests and operate in accordance with EPA limits.
该装置能够识别出柴油汽车何时在接受政府标准实验室检测，并在这时根据美国国家环境保护局的规定运行。
But when driven on the road, the software allowed the cars to spew up to 40 times the allowable levels of nitrogen oxide.
但在实际道路行驶时，该软件可以让汽车的氮氧化物排放量最高达到规定水平的40倍。
“VW employees knew that if they had told the truth and disclosed the existence of the defeat device, VW could not have sold any of its diesel vehicles in the United States,” says the criminal complaint.
刑事起诉书称：“大众员工知道，如果他们说实话并披露减效装置的存在，大众不可能在美国销售其柴油汽车。”
VW’s scheme began unravelling in early 2014 when a study ordered by the International Council on Clean Transportation, a non-profit organisation, detected the higher readings on the road emissions by VW diesel cars.
2014年初，大众的计划开始暴露，当时非营利组织国际清洁运输委员会(International Council on Clean Transportation)下令展开的研究发现，大众柴油汽车在实际道路上行驶时的尾气排放量较高。
In April 2014, after learning of the study’s findings, Mr Schmidt emailed a colleague about the issue: “It should first be decided whether we are honest. If we are not honest, everything stays as it is.”
2014年4月，在得知这项研究的结果后，施密特就此事给一名同事发送电邮：“首先应该确定我们是否要诚实。如果我们不要诚实，那就一切保持原样。”
VW formed an ad hoc engineering task force to handle regulators’ questions.
大众汽车组成了一个特别工程师任务小组来处理监管机构的质询。
“VW employees determined not to disclose to US regulators that the tested vehicle models operated with a defeat device,” says the criminal complaint.
刑事起诉书称：“大众员工决定不向美国监管机构披露接受检测的汽车安装了减效装置。
“Instead, VW employees pursued a strategy of concealing the defeat device in responding to questions from US regulators, while appearing to co-operate.”
“相反，大众员工表面上装出合作的样子，却在回答美国监管机构的问题时隐瞒了这个减效装置。”
By the summer of 2015, Mr Schmidt was directly involved in efforts to deal with regulators’ increasingly pointed questions.
到2015年夏，施密特直接参与处理监管机构日益尖锐的问题。
James Robert Liang, a VW engineer, in September became the first person to plead guilty to criminal charges, including conspiring to defraud US customers and regulators. He agreed to co-operate with US government investigators in return for leniency.
去年9月，大众工程师詹姆斯•罗伯特•梁(James Robert Liang)成为首位对刑事指控认罪的大众员工，这些指控包括合谋欺骗美国消费者和监管者。他同意与美国政府调查人员合作，以换取宽大处理。
Prosecutors also are getting help from two other VW insiders, who worked in the company’s engine development department, says the criminal complaint.
刑事起诉书称，检察官还得到了另外两名大众内部人士的帮助，他们曾在大众发动机开发部门工作。
They are co-operating in return for assurances that they will not be prosecuted in the US.
他们与检方合作的条件是保证他们不会在美国被起诉。
From 2012 to 2015, Mr Schmidt was general manager of VW’s environmental engineering office in Michigan, which was responsible for dealing with US regulatory agencies such as the EPA and the California Air Resources Board.
2012年到2015年，施密特担任大众密歇根环境工程办公室的总经理，该部门负责与美国监管机构打交道，例如美国国家环境保护局和加州空气资源委员会(California Air Resources Board)。
In March 2015, he was promoted to the post of principal deputy to the head of engine development in Wolfsburg.
2015年3月，他被晋升为位于沃尔夫斯堡的发动机开发部门的副主管。
