Volkswagen managers afraid to travel to the U.S.: paper

BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) managers are worried about traveling to the United States, a German newspaper reported on Saturday, saying U.S. investigators have confiscated the passport of an employee who is there on a visit.

Citing company sources, the Suddeutsche Zeitung said Volkswagen believes the investigators want to prevent the manager from evading questioning or criminal prosecution linked to the diesel emissions scandal.

A spokesman for VW said: "Volkswagen employees are still traveling to the United States. Everything else is speculation."

Volkswagen is under investigation in the United States and could face penalties of up to $18 billion after admitting it deliberately rigged emissions tests of diesel-powered vehicles.

Mary Nichols, head of the California Air Resources Board, which is investigating VW, has criticized the carmaker's handling of the scandal.

Citing a person with knowledge of the matter, the paper said it was now unlikely that new VW Chief Executive Matthias Mueller would travel to the United States in the second half of November as planned.

"We need legal security here before he can fly to the United States," the paper quoted a person from group management as saying.

There is no official plan for VW's new Chief Executive Matthias Mueller to travel to the United States and VW has so far declined to comment when asked whether such a trip is likely.

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz; Writing by Caroline Copley; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)