German prosecutors have cleared Daimler and its CEO Dieter Zetsche after an investigation regarding the lobbying practices of the company.
The car giant was under suspicion for “granting undue advantage” to Eckart von Klaedenformer, a former aide of Chancellor Angela Merkel. A probe was launched in 2013, after the Christian Democrat was hired as chief political lobbyist at the automaker.
According to prosecutors, while already working for Daimler, he still had access to three confidential government papers related to European Union’s future regulation of auto emissions.
Prosecutors in Berlin have been investigating into whether this relation between Daimler and Eckart von Klaeden can indeed be considered improper. The results were negative, both the probe against Mercedes’ parent company and Klaeden himself being officialy closed.
“There were insufficient grounds for taking the matter further; the investigation has been dropped,” a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office has revealed to Reuters.
Eckart von Klaeden, former treasurer of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, is now head of external affairs at German Group Daimler.
