Diess also said that Volkswagen will notify investigating authorities about any employee who has shown a willingness to cooperate. "Past experience has shown this speaks in the employee's favor," he wrote. The immunity offer, first reported by the Wall Street Journal (paywall), underscores how desperate the automaker is— amid pressure from regulators and the public—to quickly determine how widespread emissions cheating occurred, supposedly undetected, for years. It's meant to speed up the automaker's internal investigations, which are being conducted by US law firm Jones Day. "I have pushed hard for the relentless and comprehensive clarification of events. We will stop at nothing and nobody," Volkswagen AG CEO Matthias Müller said in statement, after a new infraction involving diesel models as well as gas-powered vehicles was discovered last week. "This is a painful process, but it is our only alternative."