Ex-Porsche CFO convicted in fraud case

Former Porsche chief financial officer Holger Haerter has been fined €630,000 by a German court for credit fraud in a criminal case over the refinancing of a €10bn loan during a failed bid to buy Volkswagen in 2009.

Haerter downplayed Porsche’s liquidity needs and failed to disclose the correct number of put options on Volkswagen (VW) shares Porsche held during negotiations with BNP Paribas about the lender’s €500m share of the syndicated loan, said Stuttgart Regional Court presiding Judge Roderich Martis yesterday.

“The information given by the defendants was wrong,” Judge Martis said.