Qatar ‘right’ to invest in VW, says Gulf board member

Qatar made the “right decision” by investing in German car giant Volkswagen, despite the ensuing “dieselgate” emissions scandal, the Gulf state’s representative on the company’s supervisory board said on Tuesday.

Hessa al-Jaber said that Qatar also remained “committed” to its investment in Volkswagen, in a rare public statement.

“I do believe Volkswagen is a great company,” she told reporters.

“When we invested in Volkswagen, that was the right decision and we are really committed to that.”

She added that VW had “taken measures to mitigate any risk” in the wake of the scandal.

Qatar bought a stake of around 17 percent in the German car manufacturer in 2009 and sent the representative to sit on its supervisory board last year.

Media reports suggest Doha has been hit hard by “dieselgate”, which saw Volkswagen admit in September 2015 that it had installed software to cheat regulatory emissions tests on around 11 million cars worldwide, sending its share price sliding.

Earlier this month it was calculated that VW has so far agreed to pay more than $23 billion in damages in the US over the scandal.

dh/dr