Volkswagen Group has named Kurt Michels as its new chief compliance officer, a hire that comes as the company seeks to move past its multibillion-dollar emissions scandal.

Michels was previously the chief compliance officer for trucks, vans and buses at German automaker Daimler, where he began his career in 1998 as an in-house lawyer.

Since 2006, he has led Daimler's product safety and regulatory department as associate general counsel, a role that gave him global responsibility over Daimler's dealings with products liability prevention, along with emissions and criminal law. In his latest role, he oversaw programmes to prevent money laundering and corruption.

Michel's appointment took effect on 1 April, according to a prepared statement from the company. He succeeds Frank Fabian, who is leaving Volkswagen to be speaker of Wolfsburg's management board. Fabian joined Volkswagen in 2001 and was promoted a decade later to head of governance, risk and compliance.

In its statement, Volkswagen thanked Fabian for "his commitment to the further development of compliance and risk management systems and for his specialist support for liaison with the US authorities".

Volkswagen agreed two months ago to pay $1.2bn (£958m) to settle the last of the consumer claims brought over the diesel emissions scandal. The settlement resolved suits brought by consumers and the Federal Trade Commission over 75,000 3.0-litre diesel engine vehicles. The automaker had previously agreed to $14.7bn (£11.7bn) in a similar settlement involving nearly half a million 2.0 litre diesel vehicles. That settlement was approved in October.

Earlier this month, authorities in Germany raided Jones Day's law offices there as part of an investigation into the automaker. The firm, known for its secrecy and close ties with the Trump administration, has been handling an internal investigation for Volkswagen into the automaker's use of software that was designed to cheat emissions tests.

Volkswagen criticised the move as "unacceptable" and a "clear violation of legal principles."

In the fallout from the emissions scandal, US authorities in January arrested Oliver Schmidt, head of Volkswagen Group's US regulatory compliance office. Schmidt is charged in Detroit federal district court for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to defraud the US. Schmidt, who has being held pending trial, has pleaded not guilty.

"The alleged conspiracy began approximately eight years before Schmidt is alleged to have joined it," his lawyers wrote in court papers in February. "The case against Schmidt arises primarily from statements he made to US regulators in a small number of meetings about highly technical issues. There is substantial exculpatory evidence about these meetings and related facts, including advice of counsel."