Homes raided
August 23, 2009
The company had said on Thursday that prosecutors with search warrants had searched the Porsche headquarters in Stuttgart, but now the city's prosecutor's office has confirmed that the men's private apartments were also raided. Both Wiedeking and Haerter resigned last month after the luxury automaker failed to acquire Volkswagen.
The men are now being examined by Germany's financial supervisory authority (BaFin) on suspicion of market manipulation
The German news magazine Der Spiegel's reported in the its issue to be published on Monday that the investigation is into attempts to stabilize the shares of VW and keep them from fluctuating amid a lengthy takeover attempt by Porsche. Porsche owned more than half of VW's shares at the time and such fluctuations could have led to massive losses for the company.
The failed takeover left Porsche mired in debt.
Porsche has denied the allegations of market manipulation and said it would cooperate and assist investigators.
Porsche and Volkswagen have now agreed on a plan to integrate the two carmakers by 2011, creating a new German automative giant.
hf/AFP/AP/dpa
Editor: Nick Amies