Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters Matthias Mueller, chief executive of Porsche, posing inside a 911 sports car, at the company’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany on Jan. 9.
An Indian court has issued an arrest warrant for Matthias Müller, chief executive and chairman of Porsche, the German carmaker, and eight other executives from the company.
The warrants come as a result of a court case filed by Precision Cars India, a former importer of Porsche autos based in New Delhi.
Precision Cars began importing Porsche vehicles to India in 2003. When Porsche appointed Volkswagen Group Sales India as its sole importer in April 2012, however, it failed to inform Precision Cars, the importer said. Precision executives said they were left with no choice but to file a lawsuit.
“All along we have been making bona fide efforts to sort out the issues with Porsche,” Precision Cars India said. “But they are acting in an illegal and unjust manner and have not been giving any support in resolving the issues, so we were not left any choice but to pursue the matter legally and await justice.”
The arrest warrants, issued in Jaipur, were based on several charges filed by Precision against Porsche, including extortion, cheating, dishonestly inducing delivery of property, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.
Mr. Müller, speaking at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, said that lawyers were investigating the issue and that he had no further comment.
Because the accused executives are originally from Germany and the United Arab Emirates, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation has written to Interpol a letter dated Nov. 8, 2012 asking that “necessary action in the matter” be taken up with the concerned countries.
From January 2011 to March 2012, Precision Cars sold an average of 35 cars per month. During Porsche India’s first month of working with Volkswagen in India, in October 2012, the company sold 117 cars, followed by 51 cars in November.
Article source: http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/indian-court-issues-warrant-for-porsche-ceos-arrest/?partner=rss&emc=rss