Carmaker Volkswagen says it has been fined almost €1.2bn by German authorities in connection with the diesel emissions scandal.

Volkswagen said in a statement Wednesday it would accept the fine imposed by prosecutors in the city of Braunschweig.

Prosecutors said the carmaker failed to properly oversee the activity of its engine development department, resulting in around 10.7 million diesel vehicles with illegal emissions-controlling software being sold worldwide.

The scandal, which came to light in the US in 2015, has so far cost the German automaker billions in penalties imposed by authorities there.

Volkswagen said it hoped that paying the German fine would have "positive effects on other official proceedings being conducted in Europe against Volkswagen" and its subsidiaries.

The fine comes two days after German prosecutors in Munich widened their emissions cheating probe into Volkswagen's luxury carmaker Audi, to include the brand's Chief Executive Rupert Stadler among the suspects accused of fraud and false advertising.