Yeah. This seems like a calculated way for Volkswagen to make sure that nobody comes forward with anything, to "prove" that nothing else is happening.

I mean, they even say you may still face criminal charges for coming forward.

Though playing devils advocate here should not the civil servants and politicians who pushed diesel over petrol (and to hell with the known health risks) be in the dock.

I recall Mrs Thatcher queried this.

First, the US government has no power. Yes, they stole the passport of a VW manager[1], but VW since decided to instantly get all their people out of the US. But practically, since that, they have zero power.

Second, the German government is the largest external shareholder of VW[2] – so you can assume that this action was made under acceptance of the government.

[1] http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/sueddeutsche-us...

[2] Well, the largest shareholder of VW is Porsche Group. The largest shareholder of that is VW. It’s complicated. Effectively, most of it belongs to the Porsche/Piech family and the German government.