STUTTGART -- German prosecutors have widened their investigation of possible breach of trust at DaimlerChrysler to include 11 people, the authorities said on Monday.
"It involves for the most part employees of DaimlerChrysler, but other people are affected as well," a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office in Stuttgart said.
She said the investigation included suspected breach of trust, but declined to give any other details.
DaimlerChrysler declined to say how many staff were involved in the probe. The world's fifth-biggest carmaker had previously confirmed that three managers were under investigation. "I cannot rule out that this number will rise," a spokeswoman said.
She also declined to go into details of the case other than to say staff had to answer for "irregularities".
One company source said the investigation concerned "a mixture of breach of trust and illegal grey-market deals with new vehicles".
In addition to using company assets for personal purposes, the suspects may have sold discounted cars to unauthorized dealers in return for kickbacks, the source said.
