OLAF has informed us that they have concluded their investigation. As well as this OLAF recommended that the European Investment Bank (EIB) applies all relevant measures vis-à-vis Volkswagen AG as provided for under the Bank’s Anti-Fraud Policy. 

The Bank is in discussion with OLAF in order to fully understand the conclusions of the investigation and the evidence obtained in the course of it.  

EIB President Werner Hoyer said: “We are very disappointed at what is asserted by the OLAF investigation, namely that the EIB was misled, by VW about the use of the defeat device.

We still cannot exclude that one of our loans, the 400m EUR loan “Volkswagen Antrieb RDI”, was linked to emission control technologies developed at the time the defeat software was designed and used. We will now review OLAF’s conclusions and consider all available and appropriate action.

VW is an excellent company, but it has not been served well by its top management since the beginning of this affair. The thousands of wonderful people who work for VW must feel betrayed.”

The Bank has cooperated with and assisted OLAF in its investigation, which has included the interview of several EIB staff members and the review of EIB documentation which OLAF considers relevant to their fact-finding process. Now, the findings and the evidence of OLAF’s investigation will be carefully reviewed by the EIB to determine more precise appropriate action and the extent of measures available to it.

We will continue reviewing our business relationships with VW – which has been on hold since last year  in the light of action recommended by OLAF and continuing judicial inquiries. The EIB is not considering any new loans to VW for the time being.

President Hoyer added “The EIB needs no encouragement to apply the provisions of its anti-fraud policy wherever relevant. It will do so in this case as appropriate. To recall, the EIB had not concluded its own investigation of the case. This had simply been put on hold to avoid duplication with the OLAF enquiry, pending its conclusion.” 

Re amounts involved - 

EIB loans provided to VW since 1990 amount to approximately EUR 4.5 bn in Europe and EUR 5 bn  in total worldwide. Their scope includes technologies targeting improved environmental performance of passenger cars, which in total accounted for about one third of the total lending to Volkswagen since 1990. 

The  EUR 400 m  VW Antrieb loan was repaid by VW according to schedule in 2014.

Environmental performance and safety have been the EU's overarching policy goals, which the Bank has supported through its lending. 

EIB has signed loans of EUR 14.4 bn since 2000 for investments in the environmental performance of cars and trucks; this is a share of about 40 percent of our total lending to the automotive sector .