VW EXEC UNDER FIRE TO RESIGN : GM CHARGES LOPEZ WITH STEALING PAPERS.Byline: Edmund L. Andrews The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times After three years of fighting charges that he stole cartons of secret documents from General Motors Corp., a top executive of Volkswagen AG Volkswagen AG (VW) Major German automobile manufacturer. It was founded in 1937 to mass-produce a low-priced “people's car” (Volkswagen). After World War II the company was rebuilt with Allied help, and within a decade it was producing half of West Germany's is expected to resign Friday. The departure of Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua would be a significant turning point in GM's bitter and deeply personal campaign against its former purchasing director. The drawn-out case, which had provoked dozens of court actions, had appeared to be gaining momentum in recent days. On Tuesday, a federal district judge in Detroit ruled that General Motors could invoke racketeering Traditionally, obtaining or extorting money illegally or carrying on illegal business activities, usually by Organized Crime . A pattern of illegal activity carried out as part of an enterprise that is owned or controlled by those who are engaged in the illegal activity. charges against Volkswagen. And German prosecutors were expected to file their own criminal charges against Lopez and several other former GM executives who went to VW in 1993 with Lopez, a colorful celebrity in the button-down ranks of auto management. Several German news organizations reported Thursday that Lopez would submit his resignation on Friday, when members of Volkswagen's supervisory board Supervisory board The board of directors that represents stakeholders in the governance of the corporation. are to meet. Citing executives close to the board, the news reports said members planned to accept the resignation. That step could prepare the way for an out-of-court settlement An agreement reached between the parties in a pending lawsuit that resolves the dispute to their mutual satisfaction and occurs without judicial intervention, supervision, or approval. between General Motors and Volkswagen, although GM executives said Thursday that no such agreement was imminent. Volkswagen, which competes fiercely with General Motors, particularly in Europe, is under heavy pressure to resolve the dispute. But GM executives in Germany said Thursday that the resignation would not end their other legal efforts. ``If Lopez stepped down, this could only be a first symbolic step toward a mutual agreement,'' a spokesman for GM's Opel subsidiary said Thursday. ``The central argument of Opel and GM is still the financial compensation.'' Both GM and German prosecutors say they have turned up strong evidence that Lopez and several colleagues did indeed take thousands of GM documents to Volkswagen. German authorities, for example, turned up four cartons of documents at an apartment in Germany that was used by several of Lopez's followers followers see dairy herd. . Those cartons were found after a roommate of the former GM executives called police one night to report that they were shredding shred n. 1. A long irregular strip that is cut or torn off. 2. A small amount; a particle: not a shred of evidence. tr.v. documents in the apartment. GM also charges that Lopez shipped about 20 cartons of crucial information from the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. to Spain and that Volkswagen actively helped him in that effort. Lopez's lawyers recently conceded that they expected prosecutors in the German city of Darmstadt to file criminal charges against Lopez within a few weeks. The German prosecutors have said they intend to decide on the charges before the end of the year. As recently as two weeks ago, the chairman of Volkswagen, Ferdinand Piech, adamantly ad·a·mant adj. Impervious to pleas, appeals, or reason; stubbornly unyielding. See Synonyms at inflexible. n. 1. A stone once believed to be impenetrable in its hardness. 2. An extremely hard substance. reiterated his support for Lopez, saying that he wanted to keep the executive at VW ``for life.'' Thursday, however, spokesmen for Volkswagen and for Lopez each refused to comment one way or the other on published reports in Germany's leading financial daily newspaper, Handelsblatt, that Lopez planned to resign. |
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