Volkswagen ensnarled in various investigations

Frankfurt

VOLKSWAGEN'S legal and financial problems deepened on Wednesday, as the European Union's anti-fraud office said that it had opened an investigation into whether the carmaker had misused hundreds of millions of euros in low-interest loans provided by a publicly financed development bank.

The investigation potentially threatens a major source of funding for Volkswagen, which has borrowed 9.5 billion euros (S$14.6 billion) from the European Investment Bank since 2000, primarily for projects meant to reduce the carmaker's impact on the environment. Disclosures in recent months that Volkswagen had rigged 11 million diesel engines to fool emissions tests have raised questions about whether the company misused the loan money.