Porsche manager arrested

German newspapers are reporting at least one senior manager has been arrested following a swoop by public prosecutors this week.

Powertrain development head, Joerg Kerner, has been arrested and detained for his alleged role in the Dieselgate scandal that has haunted the Volkswagen Group since September 2015.

The engineer, who joined Porsche from roles at Robert Bosch and Audi, had been remanded in jail pending trial because he is considered a flight risk.

He becomes only the third person jailed over Dieselgate, with ex-Audi diesel developer Giovanni Pamio and the Volkswagen Group’s former powertrain director Wolfgang Hatz detained in Munich.

Hatz, who was suspended from his role as Porsche’s director of development, worked directly with Kerner. Despite repeated offers and pleas, Hatz has remained imprisoned in Munich since September last year by police who consider him a flight risk, despite not being charged with any criminal act.

More than 300 police, lawyers and prosecutors raided at least 10 homes and offices in Bavaria and Porsche’s home state of Baden-Württemberg chasing evidence of criminal offences as they try to home in on who did what, when, in the gestation and cover up of the €30 billion diesel emissions-cheating scandal.

Porsche had been relatively successful at keeping itself at a distance from the Dieselgate scandal, painting itself as a victim of a rogue engine supplier (Audi), even though its Macan, Panamera and Cayenne models were involved in emissions difficulties.

Baden-Württemberg prosecutors released a statement confirming they were investigating three Porsche suspects, including one who has left the company and a board member.

German sources are reporting that the board member under investigation is Porsche’s development director, Michael Steiner.