STUTTGART –  Stuttgart prosecutors have charged former Porsche SE chief executive Wendeling Wiedeking and his former finance chief with market manipulation of Volkswagen shares.

The prosecutor's office in Stuttgart, where Porsche is based, said on Wednesday the executives made false public statements in 2008 with regard to the purchase of Volkswagen.

Haerter and Wiedeking could face a sentence of up to five years if they were eventually found guilty of breaching securities trading laws, a criminal offence, prosecutors have said in the past.

(Reporting by Hendrik Sackmann; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Dan Lalor)