The automotive supplier Continental surprisingly exchanges its chief financial officer. In an extraordinary meeting, the supervisory board approved the termination of the executive board contract with Wolfgang Schäfer with immediate effect, the group announced on Wednesday evening. The changes “are related to the already known investigations by the Hanover public prosecutor’s office into the use of illegal shutdown devices in diesel engines and deficits in the ongoing investigation at Continental”. The group is resolving the matter consistently and cooperating wholeheartedly with the Hanover public prosecutor.
The investigators had searched the auto supplier’s offices several times in the past. According to earlier statements, the investigation concerned a 1.6 liter diesel engine developed by VW, for which Conti had supplied the engine management system.
CEO Nikolai Setzer will take over the Schäfer departments within the board, Conti said. Until the successor has been arranged, Katja Dürrfeld, currently Head of Finance, Controlling and Information Technology in the ContiTech business unit, will temporarily take over the management of Group Finance and Controlling and Group Information Technology and in this role will report to Nikolai Setzer.