The prosecutor’s office stated that it had initiated an investigation against unnamed persons in the mentioned products of passenger cars and commercial vehicles on suspicion of fraud.
In coordination with the European Agency for International Judicial Cooperation, Eurojust is searching ten companies’ commercial buildings in Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
The German public broadcaster ORF, referring to the Frankfurt public prosecutor, stated that an unauthorized shut-off device for exhaust gas cleaning had been found in the diesel engines of some models.
The software was found in the 1.3- and 1.6-liter Multijet engines used in Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Fiat cars, as well as in the diesel engines fitted to Iveco and Fiat commercial vehicles.
Cars with these engines meet emission tests, while driving on the road, the software automatically increases harmful substances.
The Fiat brand, which is the largest carmaker in Italy, as well as Jeep and Alfa Romeo, belong to the Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Automobiles group.
Iveco is manufactured in Vysoké Mýto and is owned by the international group CNH Industrial. Manufacturers of Steyr, Case and New Holland tractors, for example, also belong to the same group.
In September 2015, a large-scale emissions scandal erupted when the German Volkswagen Group admitted in response to allegations by the US authorities that it had installed software that could manipulate emission tests on approximately 11 million diesel cars worldwide.
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