Former Volkswagen employee sought by U.S. arrested in Croatia: Handelsblatt

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Axel Eiser, a former Volkswagen engineer being sought by United States authorities as part of their investigation into a diesel-emissions cheating scandal, has been arrested in Croatia, Germany’s Handelsblatt said on Tuesday.

Eiser is a former head of group powertrain development at Volkswagen and was also a director of powertrain development at VW’s premium brand Audi .

In January 2019 a federal grand jury in Detroit indicted former Audi managers as part of the U.S. government’s investigation into diesel emissions cheating.

VW admitted in September 2015 to secretly installing software to cheat anti-pollution tests, triggering a global backlash against combustion-engined vehicles.

Volkswagen and Audi declined to comment.

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz; Writing by Edward Taylor; Editing by Thomas Escritt)