More Volkswagen executives accused over Dieselgate: report

Fifteen more executives at Volkswagen and a supplier have been charged by German investigators as part of the Dieselgate emissions scandal, the DPA news agency reported Saturday.

They are accused of aiding and abetting fraud in combination with tax evasion, criminal advertising and false certification, said the agency. It cited senior prosecutor Klaus Ziehe. The public prosecutor’s office did not mention any names, the report said. A regional court in the northern city of Braunschweig, must decide whether to accept the indictments and a court spokesperson confirmed it had receipt the files, DPA said.

VW is demanding compensation from its former CEO Martin Winterkorn and the ex-boss of its Audi unit Rupert Stadler for the Dieselgate scandal. Both are facing criminal charges in Germany. Winterkorn resigned as chief executive in September 2015 claiming to know nothing about the affair. Stadler was arrested in 2018.

The German car maker admitted in 2015 that 11 million of its diesel-powered cars were equipped with software that could be used to cheat on emissions tests.

That made it look as if the cars met tough U.S. limits on harmful pollutants known as nitrogen oxides. The scandal has accelerated the push toward electric cars and has cost the German car maker more than $30 billion.

According to DPA, investigators have sent more than 1,500 pages of allegations to the Braunschweig Regional Court.

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from POLITICO Europe can be found here ***