Officials at General Motors are confident that CEO Mary Barra will be cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to the company’s widely publicized recall crisis once an internal investigation into the matter is complete, The New York Times reports.
GM launched an internal probe into its recall of millions of small cars after it was found 13 deaths could be related to faulty ignition switches in the vehicles. The investigation was led by former Lehman Brothers investigator Anton Valukas and is expected to reveal those employees and departments that were responsible for the delayed recall. It is believed GM first found out about potentially faulty ignition switches in the early 2000s.
So far the high-ups at GM, including Barra, have yet to be directly linked to the company’s delayed recall of the faulty cars. Former CEO Dan Akerson, who chose Barra as his successor, said last week he would ‘bet his life’ that she didn’t know about the issue in an interview with Forbes.
The departments under the most scrutiny for the handling of the recall, The New York Times says, are engineering, legal, product investigations and regulatory affairs, all of which had knowledge of the faulty switch at various times. Apart from its own investigation, GM is facing probes from Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Department of Justice.
In addition to the internal probe, Compensation expert Kenneth Feinerg is expected to consult with GM in the next few weeks about options for financial restitution for victims of car accidents in recalled vehicles. Feinberg also worked on compensation cases for the Boston Marathon bombings and other tragic happenings.
“I will not be announcing any compensation plan this week. My work continues. I am still a few weeks away. GM may be making some type of announcement but it will not include any details about a compensation plan since no such plan yet exists,” Feinberg said in an emailed statement to The Detroit News.
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