FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The full Volkswagen board of directors has defended CEO Herbert Diess and Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch against charges that the two failed to give investors timely notice of the company's impending diesel emissions scandal in 2015.

In a directors' statement Wednesday, the full board agreed with the conclusions of the executive committee that Poetsch and Diess did not fail in their duty to keep investors aware of relevant information.

The board said Poetsch and Diess would therefore stay in their jobs. Former CEO Martin Winterkorn was also charged in the case.

German prosecutors say the executives should have revealed Volkswagen had been caught using software to rig emissions tests before U.S. authorities announced the violation on Sept. 18, 2015.