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Former Audi chief Rupert Stadler became the first chief executive to be tried in Germany's "dieselgate" scandal that rocked the car industry in 2015.Mr Stadler appeared before the Munich court on Wednesday for fraud, which he denied.Volkswagen, Audi owner, admitted to installing software that could cheat emissions tests on 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide.Not a single senior executive has been convicted of the scandal in Germany.
Two VW employees, xo however, are serving jail terms in the United States.Mr Stadler is accused of selling cars with engine software tweaks and failing to comply with environmental standards.When US regulators exposed the scam in 2015, VW initially claimed it was the skill of a handful of engineers and had no senior managers involved.But an employee testimony led prosecutors to detain Mr Stadler for four months in 2018.Also in the harbor is Wolfgang Hatz, a former Audi and Porsche manager, and two former engineers who have denied the fraud allegations.
The accused face charges to cover more than 434,000 VW, Audi and Porsche cars sold in Europe and the United States. If found guilty, they face up to 10 years in prison, although no trial was held until December 2022.Stadler is not the only top executive to face judgment, former VW group boss Martin Winterkorn will be tried for fraud and stock market manipulation.Herbert Diess, VW's current chief and board chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch, faces similar charges. But those operations were canceled after VW agreed to end the € 9 million deal.
The "dieselgate" scandal has cost VW more than 30 billion euros in legal fines and compensation to owners, mostly in the United States.Rivals from Daimler and Fiat Chrysler are also faced with emissions allegations.In April, VW settled Germany's biggest lawsuit, agreeing to pay around 750 million euros to 235,000 customers for the affected cars.It is currently trying to deal with 60,000 more claimants who want automakers to buy back diesel vehicles.
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