Naomi Sharp

A Federal Court judge has criticised Volkswagen for being “uncooperative” in refusing to tell the court who authorised the defeat device at the heart of the auto giant’s diesel emissions cheating scandal.

Two ‘sham letters’ produced by a senior manager of national car repair franchise Ultra Tune led both the ACCC and the court ‘down the garden path,’ a Federal Court judge heard Thursday.

Ultra Tune was “cavalier and careless” in its attitude towards its franchisees, the ACCC told the Federal Court Tuesday at the start of a four-day hearing in a case alleging the national car repair business failed to comply with the Franchising Code and breached the Australian Consumer Law.