Porsche's former CFO faces charges of refinancing fraud

rsche's former finance chief and two other managers face charges of lying about the luxury sports car maker's finances during its failed takeover of rival Volkwagen, it emerged on Tuesday. Public prosecutors in Stuttgart said three Porsche managers would be charged with making false statements about the group's financing needs to a bank at the time of the aborted takeover attempt in 2009. The three are accused of understating Porsche's financing needs by 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) when the company refinanced a 10-billion-euro loan. Prosecutors did not reveal the names of the accused, but a lawyer representing Holger Haerter, who was Porsche's chief financial officer until 2009, issued a statement saying he would fight the charges. The managers also allegedly failed to reveal that Porsche had acquired 45 million so-called "put" options -- options to sell -- on VW shares, prosecutors said. "All the information requested by the lender and any other relevant information were made available in full," Haerter's lawyer Anne Wehnert insisted. And she noted that the bank itself had "at no time complained that it was incompletely or incorrectly informed." Haerter was therefore confident that the allegations would prove unfounded, his lawyer said. A source familiar with the matter told AFP that the bank concerned was French bank BNP Paribas. The other two managers were not members of the executive board and one is still currently working for Porsche, the source added. In October 2008, Porsche made the surprise announcement that it intended to boost its stake in VW to 75 percent, that it already held a stake of 43 percent and had options on a further 31.5 percent. Haerter and Porsche's former chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking are being investigated on suspicion of share price manipulation and insider trading. "These investigations are ongoing and will not be completed before the middle of this year," prosecutors said.