The German prosecutor's office in Braunschweig carried out several searches on Tuesday at Volkswagen offices at its Wolfsburg headquarters on suspicion of illegal payments to members of the works council.
The investigation seeks to determine whether the company paid worker representatives excessively high wages as improper preferential treatment.
The prosecutor's office has also carried out searches in four homes that have nothing to do with the company, although it did not indicate whether they are the homes of those investigated.
After the first reports of alleged irregularities, Volkswagen cut the salaries of several members of the committee, who denounced the company. Justice has ruled in almost all of them.
On the other hand, the German firm announced that it is going to reduce the production of electric vehicles in the Zwickau and Dresden factories due to the drop in demand. Volkswagen produces the ID.4, ID.5, Audi Q4 e-tron and the Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron in Zwickau, and the D.3 in Dresden.
