VW offices searched by police investigating banned software

French police have carried out searches at Volkswagen offices in France as part of an investigation following revelations the carmaker rigged vehicle diesel-emissions tests.

Police searched Volkswagen’s main French office in Villers-Cotterets, northeast of Paris, and another VW office at Roissy near Paris’s main airport, seizing computer material, an official at the prosecutor’s office said.

A Volkswagen spokesman confirmed the company had been searched by French police on Friday and was co-operating with the authorities, declining to comment further. The Paris prosecutor is conducting a preliminary inquiry into suspected “aggravated deception” by Volkswagen.

Volkswagen has said up to 11 million vehicles worldwide could contain banned software, and on Thursday announced it would recall 8.5 million vehicles in the EU.

News of the latest raids on VW offices come as the Sunday Telegraph reports the car market is facing a €40 billion legal attack led by international law firm Quinn Emanuel. It has been retained by claim funding group Bentham to prepare a case for VW shareholders over the scandal. The paper reports that Quinn Emanuel and Bentham are contacting VW's largest investors – including sovereign wealth funds of Qatar and Norway – to ask them to join the claim.