11:24 am, September 4, 2024
Ex-Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn appeared in court yesterday to face charges of fraud and market manipulation.
The charges are connected to the dieselgate scandal over VW’s use of rigged software that allowed millions of cars to cheat emissions tests and pump out high levels of harmful pollutants.
Prosecutors in Germany say Winterkorn knew about the illegal software well before the US Environmental Protection Agency announced its discovery of the violation in September 2015.
Winterkorn claims he only learned about the practice days earlier and has given evidence as a witness during civil proceedings that the allegations against him ‘are not correct’.
His lawyer, Felix Doerr, said ahead of yesterday’s court proceedings in Braunschweig that ‘our client definitively rejects the accusations brought against him’.
He said Winterkorn’s position as chief executive didn’t justify making him responsible for the scandal in all its aspects.
Winterkorn, 77, was to have gone on trial in 2021 with four other VW executives but his case was postponed because of health issues.
The diesel scandal had wide-ranging consequences for the company and the car industry.
Volkswagen paid more than €31bn (circa £26.1bn) in fines and legal settlements.
Meanwhile, sales of diesel-powered cars, once favoured for their fuel efficiency over petrol vehicles, plummeted.
Winterkorn faces three separate sets of charges:
- Defrauding vehicle purchasers by selling the cars with illegal software
- Stock market manipulation by not disclosing required information to investors
- Making false statements before a parliamentary commission of inquiry in 2017
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors alleged in their indictment that Winterkorn learned of the issue at least by November 2014 but continued to allow the practice.
They say the rigged software appeared in Volkswagen cars in Europe and the US as early as 2006.
The software turned up emissions controls during testing then turned them down during everyday driving, allowing the cars to emit more than the permitted levels of nitrogen oxide.
Nitrogen oxide can irritate people’s airways and contribute to the development of asthma.
The case continues.
Martin Winterkorn is pictured at top in court yesterday. Image credit: Moritz Frankenberg/dpa/AP
