He quit his job as head of Volkswagen in September 2015 after the company was found to have cheated pollution tests on a mass scale. But Martin Winterkorn continued picking up his multi-million euro salary till the end of 2016, till expiry of his contract.
Despite the company losing billions, and the exhaust emissions scandal, the members of the Volkswagen Executive Board pocketed more money in 2015 than in the previous year. The nine members of the board received â'¬63.2 million collectively, up from the â'¬54 million they were paid in 2014.