7:38 am, June 18, 2020
Ex-Audi engineering manager Axel Eiser who is wanted in the USA over the diesel emissions cheating scandal has been arrested in Croatia.
The former boss, who is a German citizen, was detained on an international warrant when he crossed into the country from Slovenia on June 9, the ministry said.
He is being held at a detention centre in Pula, and the German embassy is being informed, the ministry statement added.
Germany’s constitution doesn’t allow the extradition of its citizens other than to another EU member state or to an international court.
A federal grand jury in Detroit, Michigan, charged Eiser and three others last year in a 12-count indictment alleging conspiracy, wire fraud and violations of the Clean Air Act.
The indictment alleged the four men took part in a near-10-year-long conspiracy to deceive the US Environmental Protection Agency by cheating on emissions tests for three-litre diesel engines.
Audi is owned by German carmaker Volkswagen, which in 2016 admitted criminal charges over the scandal and has faced more than 30 billion US dollars in penalties and lawsuit settlement costs.
Eiser headed Audi’s diesel engine development department in Ingolstadt, Germany, from 2009 until around May 2013.
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