Title:VW says will pay 1 bn euro German fine over emissions cheating

Berlin (AFP) – Auto giant Volkswagen said Wednesday it would pay a one billion euro ($1.2 billion) fine imposed by German prosecutors for diesel emissions cheating.

 针对大众汽车引发的“尾气门”事件，德国布伦瑞克检方13日对该公司作出了10亿欧元的罚款令。

"The Braunschweig public prosecutor issues an administrative order against Volkswagen AG in the context of the diesel crisis and imposes a fine of EUR1 billion on Volkswagen AG" , the company said in a statement.

The German car giant said it had  "accepted the fine"  and would not lodge an appeal.

这位德国汽车巨头说,它已经接受了罚款, 不会提出上诉。

"Volkswagen AG, by doing so, admits its responsibility for the diesel crisis and considers this as a further major step towards the latter being overcome."

并表示其认罚的行为是在承认其对于“尾气门”所担负的责任，并将认罚视作克服“尾气门”影响向前迈出的又一大步”。

The prosecutors said the penalty was  "one of the highest fines ever imposed on a company in Germany"  and stressed that it was unrelated to civil cases seeking compensation or ongoing criminal investigations against the people involved.

检察官说，罚款是“德国某家公司有史以来最高罚金之一”，并表示与涉案人员要求赔偿或正在进行刑事调查的民事案件无关。

The mammoth carmaker admitted in 2015 to fitting 11 million vehicles worldwide with  "defeat devices"  — software designed to trick regulators into thinking cars met emissions standards.

“尾气门”事件始于美国环保署于2015年9月查出德国规模最大的车企大众汽车涉嫌在车载电脑中安装一种可用于尾气测试作弊的软件，从而隐瞒真实排放情况。

In fact, output of harmful fine particulates and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which can cause respiratory and heart diseases, was far higher than legally permitted.

事实上，可能导致呼吸和心脏疾病的有害微粒和氮氧化物的产量远高于法律准许的数量。

VW's admission had so far cost it more than 25 billion euros in buybacks, fines and compensation, and the company remains mired in legal woes at home and abroad.

迄今为止，大众收购要耗费250多亿欧元回购、罚款和赔偿，该公司仍深陷国内外法律困境之中。

VW's chief executive at the time of the diesel scandal Martin Winterkorn stepped down soon after the news broke, while successor Matthias Mueller was hastily replaced earlier this year.

在“排放门”丑闻发生时，大众首席执行官马丁·温特科恩(Martin Winterkorn)在新闻披露后不久就辞职，而继任者马赛厄斯·缪勒（Matthias Mueller）则在今年早些时候被匆匆取代。

Both are suspected of knowing earlier than they have so far admitted about the cheating, meaning they failed in their duty to inform investors in the car giant about the financial risks.

他们均被怀疑早知欺诈行为，这意味着他们没有义务向汽车业巨头的投资者通报金融风险。

US prosecutors also indicted Winterkorn last month saying he knew of the company's emissions cheating as early as May 2014 but decided to continue.

美国检察官上月还起诉温特科尔，说他早在2014年5月就知道该公司的排放欺诈行为，但决定继续下去。

The  "dieselgate"  saga has cast a pall over Germany's vaunted car industry, with suspicions of emissions manipulation since spreading to other companies.

这件事儿给德国汽车业带来一丝不苟的阴影，使人们对排放操纵产生了怀疑，自从传播给其他公司了。

Luxury carmaker BMW and Mercedes-owned Daimler have both had their offices raided by investigators searching for evidence of possible cheating.

豪华汽车制造商宝马(BMW)和奔驰(Mercedes)旗下的戴姆勒(Daimler)均遭到调查人员的突袭，寻找可能作弊的证据。

In the spiralling scandal, Germany ordered Monday the recall of some 774,000 Daimler vehicles across Europe, citing illegal defeat devices.

在急剧上升的丑闻中，德国周一下令全欧洲召回大约774,000辆戴姆勒车，理由是发现“非法关闭设备”。

VW said in its statement that prosecutors had found that  "monitoring duties had been breached … in the context of vehicle tests" .

大众汽车协会在其声明中说，检察官发现“在汽车测试中，监督职责被违反”。

This had led to 10.7 million cars  "being advertised, sold to customers and placed on the market with an impermissible software function"  in the US, Canada and worldwide between mid-2007 and 2015, the company said.

该公司表示，这在2007年至2015年中期间在美国，加拿大和全球范围内导致1070万辆汽车“被宣传，出售给客户并投放市场，但其软件功能不被允许”。