BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) has filed a legal complaint with a Munich court against the searches carried out by German prosecutors at the law firm it hired to investigate its emissions scandal.
The decision follows a meeting of VW's supervisory board on Tuesday when officials discussed what legal recourse the carmaker has to prevent Munich prosecutors from retaining and assessing material it had seized, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
Some members of VW's 20-strong supervisory board had misgivings about contesting the prosecutors' actions because they fear this could undermine the company's pledge to fully cooperate with authorities in clearing up the scandal, one of the sources said.
VW, the world's largest carmaker, would not specify on Wednesday exactly when the complaint was lodged and gave no further details about its argument.
VW had already condemned the search of offices of U.S. law firm Jones Day on March 15 and said it would use every legal step to defend itself.
Jones Day couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
The U.S. law firm was mandated by the supervisory boards of VW and luxury division Audi in late 2015 to lead an open-ended investigation into the emissions fraud.
VW has never published the full Jones Day report, although a summary of its findings was compiled in the form of a "Statement of facts" for the U.S. Department of Justice.
The supervisory board recommended on Tuesday that shareholders should ratify the actions in 2016 of VW group's nine top executives, including Audi CEO Rupert Stadler, when they hold their annual general meeting on May 10, VW said.
A separate meeting of Audi's supervisory board earlier on Wednesday asked Stadler about searches by prosecutors at Audi's two German factories, one source at the carmaker said.