The air quality around Volkswagens isn't very pure at the moment.

You might be left gasping by the emissions put out by the company's vehicles. You might not. Who knows? Since they routinely cheated official tests of pollution standards, we know we can't trust the statistics.

But you might certainly choke as the corporation moves smoothly into recovery gear.

Former chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigns, Porsche's Matthias Müller is widely tipped to take over, move along please, nothing to smell here.

Except it reeks and we all know it does. Exposed for deliberately, illegally rigging its diesel cars to ensure they pass emissions tests, Volkswagen was engaged in a global conspiracy for commercial gain. The scam appears to have been designed to help it break diesel vehicles into the resistant US market, by producing vehicles which could provide better performance while still meeting standards for emissions of nitrogen oxides.

Ironically, it was only exposed because testing in the USA is more rigorous than in Europe. It is not yet clear whether similar cheating was employed in Europe, but this may be the tip of an iceberg.

In addition few imagine that the German car manufacturer was the only one to engage in this practice. (It may not even have been the only German one).

So it isn't enough for the man at the top to simply move along (Mr Winterkorn walks away, of course, with a reported £23m pay and pensions pay out).

Another executive, Michael Horn, Volkswagen’s US boss, may also be leaving in the wake of the revelations. Horn claimed the company “screwed up” with the secret software which allowed cars to disguise their true capacity for pollution.

That is euphemistic. This gaming of the system by Volkswagen was outright fraud, and if a member of public had been engaged in such criminality they could and would have expected to serve prison time. The crime is not victimless and nitrogen oxide emissions damage the health of those with respiratory problems and can hasten death.

VW are not alone in attempting to gain a competitive advantage by misleading people. Last November two other companies, Kia and Hyundai admitted they had misrepresented their cars' emission levels and were between them fined more than £200 million.

This particular approach to testing may be unique to Volkswagen, but it is an open secret that test results often bear very little relation to the real-life emissions of a car. This is not surprising. In Europe and America, car companies have an astonishing degree of control over the testing process and whole businesses exist openly dedicated to helping them get the best possible results in emissions tests.

The system plainly needs a massive overhaul. But it is also indicative of a wider problem with corporate capitalist culture. The Libor scandal and other financial scandals are similar symptoms of what happens when short term greed meets lax controls while executive pay is out of control.

While the only consequence for corporate malfeasance is a slap on the wrists, nothing will change. We have seen the pattern before - companies are hit with affordable fines, executives are not jailed. This can't go on. It is time for some fresh air, time for a fresh start, and Volkswagen is as good a place as any to start.