Germany puts boss on trial over ‘dieselgate’
MUNICH (AFP) – Five years after “dieselgate” emissions cheating revelations rocked the car industry, ex-Audi CEO Rupert Stadler on Wednesday becomes the first top executive to stand trial in Germany.
Stadler faces charges of “fraud, falsifying certifications and false advertising”, according to the indictment that will be read out before the Munich district court.
He will be in the dock alongside former Audi and Porsche manager Wolfgang Hatz and two Audi engineers, all facing the same charges.
German car giant Volkswagen – whose subsidiaries include Porsche, Audi, Skoda and Seat – admitted in September 2015 that it had installed manipulating software in 11 million diesels worldwide.
The so-called defeat devices made the vehicles appear less polluting in lab tests than they were in real driving conditions, allowing the vehicles to emit toxic gases far beyond the legal limit.
Not a single senior executive has been convicted over the scam in Germany, although two VW employees have received jail terms in the United States.
The trial is expected to last until December 2022 and if found guilty, the accused face up to 10 years in jail.
Volkswagen has always insisted that the diesel trickery was the work of a handful of lower-level employees acting without the knowledge of superiors, although prosecutors dispute this.
Prosecutors say Stadler knew about the scam by the end of September 2015 “at the latest” but nevertheless allowed thousands more vehicles fitted with illegal defeat devices to be sold.
His three fellow defendants are accused of having developed diesel engines equipped with the manipulating software and allegedly installed in cars sold by the VW group as far back as 2009.
The “dieselgate” saga has already cost VW more than 30 billion euros in fines, legal costs and compensation to car owners – mainly in the United States.
The fallout has prompted the industry to accelerate a shift towards environmentally-friendly electric vehicles, requiring huge investments at a time when carmakers are already confronting a tough economic climate.
- Tags: Audi, dieselgate
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