Bild, citing company sources, said that an internal commission found no wrongdoing and that he could return.

A spokesman for VW said a decision had not been made.

In January, it came to light that Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler funded an organisation called European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector (EUGT) to commission the tests.

As head of sustainability topics at VW group, Steg was in charge of the EUGT.

(Reporting by Jan C. Schwartz; Writing by Tom Sims; Editing by Edmund Blair)