美国起诉大众尾气作弊，罚款或超190亿美元

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department sued the German automaker Volkswagen in federal court Monday, saying that the company installed illegal devices in nearly 600,000 diesel² engine systems to impair³ emissions⁵ controls, that way increasing harmful air pollution.

华盛顿——司法部周一向联邦法院起诉德国汽车生产商大众汽车(Volkswagen)，称其在近60万套柴油发动机系统中安装了非法装置，破坏尾气排放控制系统，导致有害的空气污染增加。

But despite a pledge by the Justice Department in September to go after executives responsible for corporate⁶ wrongdoing, federal prosecutors⁷ stopped short of criminal charges and did not single out individuals. They did question Volkswagen’s efforts to restore its credibility, accusing the company of being uncooperative — even recently — with regulators.

尽管司法部曾在9月承诺追究应对企业违法行为负责的高管的责任，但联邦检察官此次并未提出刑事指控，也未针对相关个体。他们的确质疑了大众为恢复自己的信誉所采取的行动，指责其即便是在最近，也不与监管机构合作。

The civil complaint was filed in Detroit on Monday. In September, Volkswagen admitted that it had installed the software created to cheat on emissions tests in 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide, setting off one of the largest corporate scandals in auto¹ industry.

周一当天，这起民事诉讼在底特律提交。去年9月，大众承认安装了相关软件，在全球范围内的1100万辆柴油车的尾气测试中做假。此事引爆了汽车行业历史上最大的企业丑闻之一。

Since then, regulators in the United States and Canada have accused the company of also installing devices to cheat emissions on some vehicles with larger engines, a claim Volkswagen has disputed. Federal prosecutors on Monday said the company had “impeded⁸ and obstructed⁹” regulators’ inquiries¹⁰ and provided “misleading information.” The accusation¹¹ on Monday deals only with the nearly 600,000 vehicles sold in the United States.

自那时以来，美国和加拿大的监管机构指责该公司还在一些发动机较大的车型上安装了用来在排放测试中作弊的装置。大众反驳了这一说法。联邦检察官周一表示，该公司“阻挠和妨碍”监管部门的调查，并提供“误导信息”。周一的指控仅针对在美国售出的近60万辆大众车。

Since the scandal broke, the company’s chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, has resigned, nine employees have been suspended, and the company has begun the twin tasks of designing fixes for the vehicles and containing consumer outrage¹² and litigation. The Justice Department’s suit and its accusation of continuing obstruction¹³ were fresh blows to its new chief executive, Matthias Müller, and will only make the task of damage control more difficult.

丑闻爆出后，大众首席执行官文德恩(Martin Winterkorn)辞职，九名员工停职。公司也开启了自己的两大任务：设计针对相关车辆的解决方案；控制消费者的怒火及诉讼。司法部此次起诉并指控大众持续妨碍调查，是对公司新任首席执行官马蒂亚斯·穆勒(Matthias Müller)的最新打击，只会让止损的任务变得更加艰难。

In a statement, Volkswagen, which includes the brands Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini, said it “will continue to work cooperatively with the E.P.A. on developing remedies” to bring its diesel vehicles “into full compliance¹⁴ with regulations as soon as possible.” The company also said it was working “to develop an independent, fair and swift process for resolving private consumer claims relating to these issues.”

大众旗下品牌还包括奥迪(Audi)、保时捷(Porshe)和兰博基尼(Lamborghini)。在声明中，大众称“将继续与美国国家环境保护局(EPA)合作，制定补救措施”，让旗下柴油车“尽快完全符合规定”。公司还表示正在努力“形成一套独立、公正而迅速的程序，解决私人消费者有关这些问题的索赔。”

Regulators across the globe, including in India, South Korea and Germany, are conducting their own investigations¹⁶, as are attorneys general in all 50 states. But the Justice Department has been seen as the only agency that might hold executives personally accountable.

和全美50个州的检察长一样，全球范围内的监管机构都在对大众进行调查，包括印度、韩国和德国。但美国司法部被认为是唯一一个有可能会追究高管个人责任的机构。

“With today’s filing, we take an important step to protect public health by seeking to hold Volkswagen accountable for any unlawful air pollution, setting us on a path to resolution,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator¹⁷ for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “So far, recall discussions with the company have not produced an acceptable way forward. These discussions will continue in parallel with the federal court action.”

“通过今天的起诉，我们寻求让大众对非法空气污染负责，从而迈出了保护公众健康的重要一步，让我们踏上了解决问题的道路，”EPA负责环境执法与合规办公室的助理局长辛西娅·贾尔斯(Cynthia Giles)说。“迄今为止，与该公司就召回事宜进行的讨论尚未得出一个可以接受的方案。这些讨论将和联邦法院的行动同时进行。”

Given the cascade¹⁸ of revelations, the civil complaint, which does not involve criminal charges or auto executives facing charges, is something of a blow to the Obama administration’s highly promoted new strategy for getting tough on corporate crime. The Justice Department has gained a reputation in recent years for forcing companies to pay big fines, while sparing the executives involved. In September, Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates said that impression had weakened public confidence and vowed¹⁹ to change it.

对企业犯罪采取强硬行动是奥巴马政府大力宣传的一项新策略。考虑到此次丑闻的规模，这起民事诉讼既不涉及刑事指控，也没有波及高管，是对该策略的某种打击。近年来，司法部得到了不良声誉，被指一贯迫使企业缴纳巨额罚款、却让高管安然脱身。去年9月，司法部副部长莎莉·Q·耶茨(Sally Q. Yates)表示这种印象削弱了公众对司法部的信任，并发誓要予以扭转。

“Corporations can only commit crimes through flesh-and-blood people,” Ms. Yates said as she announced the new policy, which encouraged prosecutors to set their sights on prosecuting²⁰ corporate executives from the beginning of investigations.

“企业只能通过血肉之躯的人进行犯罪，” 耶茨在宣布新政策时说。这项政策鼓励检察官从调查一开始就着眼于起诉企业高管。

Two weeks later, the Justice Department opened its investigation¹⁵ into Volkswagen.

两周后，司法部启动了对大众的调查。

The government is seeking an array of penalties against the company, including fines and further actions to mitigate²¹ the emission⁴ of harmful pollutants²². The complaint does not specify²³ actions the company must take to further reduce emissions, nor does it name a dollar figure for the penalty. Those will be decided²⁴ by a federal court.

联邦政府寻求对大众采取一系列惩罚措施，包括罚款和减缓有害污染物排放的进一步行动。诉状中并未明确指出大众要为进一步削减排放而必须采取的行动，也未提出罚款金额。这些均将由联邦法院裁决。

Under the Clean Air Act, the company could be fined up to $32,500 for each 2-liter diesel vehicle with the illegal software (about 499,000 autos) and up to $37,000 for each 3-liter vehicle with the software (about 85,000). Added together and the penalty could top $19 billion.

根据《清洁空气法》(Clean Air Act)，大众公司每辆安装了非法软件的2升柴油车（约49.9万辆）的罚款可达3.25万美元，每辆3升柴油车（约8.5万辆）的罚款可达3.7万美元。罚款加起来或许会超过190亿美元。

Justice Department officials said that the complaint represented the first step in legal action against Volkswagen and did not preclude²⁵ a criminal charge.

司法部的官员称，此次诉讼代表着对大众采取法律行动的第一步，不排除提出刑事指控的可能。

Environmental and public health advocates said the government should push forward with further charges.

倡导环境和公共卫生议题的人士称，政府应当推动进一步的指控。

“The government should follow up with criminal charges against both VW and its management to protect our health from auto pollution and signal other automakers that it will throw the book at any company that follows VW’s lead,” Dan Becker, director of the safe-climate campaign at the Center for Auto Safety, wrote in an email.

“政府应该继续对大众及其管理层提出刑事指控，从而保护我们的健康不受汽车污染的影响，并向其他汽车厂商发出信号，表明它会严惩任何胆敢效仿大众的公司，”汽车安全中心(Center for Auto Safety)安全气候宣传项目的主管丹·贝克尔(Dan Becker)通过电子邮件接受采访时表示。