South Korean units of top German automakers are in hot water on charges of forging emissions-related documents, an illicit action that had kept Volkswagen out of the Korean market for nearly two years.

According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Monday, BMW Korea, the local unit of German luxury automaker Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW), and its six former and current officials have been indicted for forging private documents, obstructing justice using deceptive means, violating the country’s clean air conservation act and customs law. The Korean unit of Germany luxury automaker Porsche AG and three incumbent officials have also been charged without detention on similar charges.

BMW Korea is accused of manipulating gas emission documents since 2011 to gain approval from the National Institute of Environmental Research and importing some 29,000 certified units until recently using the trick. Porsche Korea has also been handed over to the court on charges of falsifying gas emission test results and paper work from 2014 to 2015 and importing some 2,000 units in the market until February.

The latest prosecution action comes after the Ministry of Environment found in its own inquiry last year that Porsche Korea and BMW Korea had forged gas emissions test documents or did not obtain up-to-date certifications, leading it impose fines on them and cancel certifications before filing for a complaint with the prosecution.

Mercedes-Benz Korea, the local unit of German automaker Mercedes-Benz, is also under prosecution investigation after the environment ministry filed a complaint on similar charges. Audi-Volkswagen Korea, the local unit of global automaker Audi Volkswagen Group, is being tried upon findings of falsified documents on emissions to achieve certifications for imported vehicles.

By Kim Jung-hwan and Lee Eun-joo

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