:00:00. > :00:20.Sports cars, but unsporting behaviour.
:00:21. > :00:22.Did Porsche's former bosses lie to investors,
:00:23. > :00:31.Is this the answer to South Africa's energy crisis?
:00:32. > :00:34.We visit one of the African continent's largest
:00:35. > :00:53.Toshiba revealed that is under investigation in the US over its
:00:54. > :00:55.$1.3 billion accounting scandal. We start in Germany, with a scandal
:00:56. > :01:01.that has engulfed one of the biggest names in the country's vast car
:01:02. > :01:04.industry and cast a shadow over the No,
:01:05. > :01:11.it's not Volkswagen and Dieselgate this time, but its stablemate
:01:12. > :01:15.Porsche that's in the spotlight. The ex-CEO of Porsche,
:01:16. > :01:20.Wendelin Wiedeking, on the left, and former chief financial officer
:01:21. > :01:27.Holger Haerter on the right are on trial for alleged stock market
:01:28. > :01:29.manipulation. Mr Wiedeking and his former
:01:30. > :01:32.colleague both deny the charges. If convicted they could face more
:01:33. > :01:35.than two years in jail and fines Today, a court
:01:36. > :01:43.in Porsche's home city of Stuttgart Let's take a look at the background
:01:44. > :01:49.to this long-running trial. The charges relate to Porsche's
:01:50. > :01:52.failed attempt to take over VW back Between March and October
:01:53. > :01:55.of that year, Porsche issued five public denials that it was planning
:01:56. > :02:00.a takeover of VW. All the while, say prosecutors,
:02:01. > :02:03.it was building up a stake in the company but trying to keep
:02:04. > :02:06.the share price down. It did that by giving false
:02:07. > :02:10.information to investors. When the plan finally emerged,
:02:11. > :02:12.shares soared, leaving hedge funds who had bet against them with losses
:02:13. > :02:18.of 30 billion euros. Porsche's funding dried up
:02:19. > :02:20.because of the financial crisis It was itself left with huge debts,
:02:21. > :02:28.some ten billion euros. Ironically, that paved the way
:02:29. > :02:31.for Porsche to end up being taken Damien McGuinness is our Germany
:02:32. > :02:45.business correspondent. You have been following this case
:02:46. > :02:49.for some time. It is quite extraordinary how this one
:02:50. > :02:55.billionaire family managed to garner so much power over a company that
:02:56. > :02:59.was effectively, at one point, the world's most valuable. Tell us more.
:03:00. > :03:05.That's right and this whole story can be quite confusing, because we
:03:06. > :03:10.are effectively talking about three different Porsches. One is the car
:03:11. > :03:14.brand, now owned by BW, the other is the company Porsche. This is the
:03:15. > :03:18.company that is having problems today, because it is the two
:03:19. > :03:24.executives of that company who I now standing trial and the verdict will
:03:25. > :03:28.be heard later today. The third thing is the Porsche family, which
:03:29. > :03:34.initially set up BW and it is the ancestor of the daily's Porsche
:03:35. > :03:38.family, which created the VW beetle. And the Porsche family are the full
:03:39. > :03:46.bonus of the Porsche company and it is that which is now the majority
:03:47. > :03:51.shareholder of VW. So you've got companies that are intertwined and
:03:52. > :03:55.when the company first broke -- scandal first broke out it caused a
:03:56. > :04:01.lot of publicity because the Porsche family is iconic era. That's because
:04:02. > :04:06.of the original maker of the VW beetle but also because this is one
:04:07. > :04:12.of the richest families in Germany. So the scandal really gets a lot of
:04:13. > :04:14.publicity here. It will be very complicated, but the central
:04:15. > :04:19.contention is that this two top officials at the Porsche holding
:04:20. > :04:23.company set out to manipulate the stock price to maintain the
:04:24. > :04:29.family's well. What's interesting is that no members of the Porsche
:04:30. > :04:34.family themselves are on trial. That's right, because the Porsche
:04:35. > :04:38.family are not accused of market manipulation, it is just the two
:04:39. > :04:41.executives. That's why it is important for us to differentiate
:04:42. > :04:46.between a family, the company and the brand. They are three very
:04:47. > :04:49.different things. But if today's verdict is guilty, this will have
:04:50. > :04:53.big ramifications on the whole group. Because on the one hand, as
:04:54. > :04:58.we know, the Porsche family owns this company, which, if the
:04:59. > :05:04.executives are found guilty of market manipulation, that doesn't
:05:05. > :05:08.reflect well on the shareholders in this company or the owners of this
:05:09. > :05:11.company. The other thing to bear in mind is that Porsche, the company
:05:12. > :05:20.today, is the majority shareholder of VW. Diesel gate has already hit
:05:21. > :05:26.VW hard, so the last thing it needs is another scandal. That's why VW
:05:27. > :05:31.and the Porsche family are no doubt now hoping for an innocent verdict.
:05:32. > :05:33.It also has to be remembered that charges like this market
:05:34. > :05:38.manipulation are incredibly difficult to prove and in most cases
:05:39. > :05:40.is no prosecution after such an investigation, because it is
:05:41. > :05:45.difficult to prove market manipulation like this. Thank you
:05:46. > :06:01.very much. I know you will keep a night on a trial. -- keep and -- an
:06:02. > :06:03.eye. Let's move to Asia now
:06:04. > :06:05.and another corporate scandal. Technology giant Toshiba says its US
:06:06. > :06:08.units are being investigated by US It says the US
:06:09. > :06:12.Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission
:06:13. > :06:14.have both requested information. According to Bloomberg News,
:06:15. > :06:16.US authorities are opening a case on the Japanese conglomerate
:06:17. > :06:19.even though it has already been investigated in Japan
:06:20. > :06:20.and could exert jurisdiction because the case involves US based
:06:21. > :06:32.division Westinghouse. What more can you tell us about
:06:33. > :06:38.this? Essentially, Toshiba says they are cooperating with US authorities
:06:39. > :06:41.and they said that several of its US subsidiaries had been requested to
:06:42. > :06:45.provide information by the US Department of Justice and securities
:06:46. > :06:50.and that they are indeed helping with that, although they refrained
:06:51. > :06:56.from saying which subsidiaries were actually... A didn't name them. So
:06:57. > :06:59.essentially the trouble of unease conglomerate nonetheless actually
:07:00. > :07:04.saw shares rise in today, they are up over 4%, and that's after news
:07:05. > :07:11.that they are selling their medical equipment unit to Canon for nearly
:07:12. > :07:16.$6 billion. That defied the slump we are seeing in the Nikkei, which is
:07:17. > :07:23.down more than 2%. But its shares, if you recall yesterday, have fallen
:07:24. > :07:25.8% after that report that you mentioned from Bloomberg. Toshiba
:07:26. > :07:31.also says they are planning to sell a majority stake in their home
:07:32. > :07:35.appliance business to a Chinese group. Basically it is doing this to
:07:36. > :07:38.raise money after that major accounting scandal that you
:07:39. > :07:42.mentioned last year. That of course led to record losses and job cuts
:07:43. > :07:47.for Toshiba. The company is hoping to restructure their bloated with
:07:48. > :07:50.its operations and we will be watching closely because there's a
:07:51. > :07:54.new core -- news conference in a few hours, where they will be announcing
:07:55. > :07:56.any term business plan. We will leave it there, but thank you very
:07:57. > :07:59.much for your time. To South Africa now,
:08:00. > :08:01.where the government hopes this could be the answer to
:08:02. > :08:03.the country's energy crisis. Over the past year South Africa has
:08:04. > :08:06.struggled to meet We've had rolling blackouts
:08:07. > :08:09.and power cuts have caused huge headaches for business and hit
:08:10. > :08:21.productivity across the economy. Our correspondent has been the
:08:22. > :08:27.Kimberley in the northern cape defined a -- to have a look at a
:08:28. > :08:33.possible solution. Power from the sun. In the northern cape of South
:08:34. > :08:36.Africa's sunshine is in abundance. Harnessing the power would seem to
:08:37. > :08:41.be a logical step towards solving part of the energy crisis. It is a
:08:42. > :08:46.crisis which is well documented. A strange grid, blackouts and now
:08:47. > :08:51.problems with price. As South Africa is predominantly powered by call,
:08:52. > :08:58.renewable energy is becoming more attractive. -- coal. It is one of
:08:59. > :09:07.the largest solar farms and generate up to 96 megawatts of energy. The
:09:08. > :09:11.company behind this project hopes to capitalise on the need. There will
:09:12. > :09:17.always be a huge need for power in South Africa and will see that going
:09:18. > :09:24.into the next 100 years. -- we will see that. Power forms the basis of
:09:25. > :09:29.any developing country and economy. These provide a sustainable return
:09:30. > :09:34.on investment. The government hopes to increase its renewable energy
:09:35. > :09:37.base. Currently, 6% of energy generated in South Africa comes from
:09:38. > :09:44.renewable energy projects such as this. It is expected to grow to 15%
:09:45. > :09:47.over the next few years and is becoming an increasingly important
:09:48. > :09:52.source of energy for this country. But it is not all sunshine for green
:09:53. > :09:57.energy companies. The low prices of oil, gas and coal can make renewable
:09:58. > :10:04.projects seem expensive and several firms have been bankrupt in recent
:10:05. > :10:07.months. And that's not the only challenge. A lot of the problems are
:10:08. > :10:12.resolved... Just the assets in developing countries generate
:10:13. > :10:15.revenue streams in the local currency and the debt from these
:10:16. > :10:20.international developers is in dollars, so they see a decline in
:10:21. > :10:24.revenue stream in US dollars and it is unable to meet the financial
:10:25. > :10:29.needs to repay the debt, which is in dollars.
:10:30. > :10:32.While South Africa is making efforts to increase the prominence of its
:10:33. > :10:36.renewable energy resources, the industry does face challenges. The
:10:37. > :10:40.country also has a nuclear power deal on the horizon which could
:10:41. > :10:44.potentially generate up to 100 times more power than the biggest solar
:10:45. > :10:50.project. However, South Africa's economy needs a stable source of
:10:51. > :10:55.energy if it is to show any signs of reasonable growth in the future. As
:10:56. > :10:58.such, experts feel renewables like solar power and wind power should
:10:59. > :11:06.have an increasingly important role to play in power generation. That's
:11:07. > :11:08.it from me for the moment. Back with the papers in about five minutes.
:11:09. > :11:18.See you then. Train companies are being told to
:11:19. > :11:23.encourage customers to claim