Former Audi CEO convicted in diesel scandal
Rupert Stadler, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Audi, the luxury car brand of the German automaker Volkswagen Group (VW), was sentenced to 1 year and 9 months in prison by the Munich District Court for negligent fraud in the diesel scandal
In the statement issued by the Munich District Court, it was reported that Stadler, who was tried in the framework of the diesel scandal investigation, was sentenced to 1 year and 9 months in prison.
Stadler, whose prison sentence was suspended, became the first Volkswagen Group Board member to be convicted of negligent fraud in the diesel scandal.
The court announced that Stadler was fined 1.1 million euros and that part of this money will be transferred to the German treasury and part to non-governmental organizations.
The court had previously announced that Stadler, 60, would face a suspended sentence if he made a full confession about the diesel scandal and paid 1.1 million euros.
The Munich public prosecutor’s office, which carries out investigations into the diesel scandal, accepted it.
WHAT HAPPENED?
In the lawsuit, which has been running since September 2020, Stadler pleaded his innocence in the diesel scandal. In March 2023, the case reached a turning point when the court made it clear that Stadler would face jail time if he did not confess.
Stadler, who is also a member of the VW Group Board of Directors, announced in early May that he would confess.
Audi’s former head of engine development Wolfgang Hatz, who was tried together with Stadler, was sentenced to 2 years in prison and a €400,000 fine, while senior engineer Giovanni Pamio was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison and a fine of 50,000 euros. Prison sentences were suspended.
The Munich Prosecutor’s Office stated that 2 executives sold diesel vehicles in Europe whose exhaust system was manipulated with illegal software. The prosecution accused Stadler of failing to stop the sale of Audi and Volkswagen cars, despite being aware of the manipulation since September 2015.
Stadler was suspended from his position by Volkswagen in 2018 due to the investigation of the diesel scandal.
According to the decision of the Munich District Court, Stadler is responsible for the sale of 17,177 manipulated diesel cars and damages worth 41 million euros. The judges accused Stadler and Hatz of damages of 2,300 million euros
The US Environmental Protection Agency announced in September 2015 that Volkswagen had rigged emissions tests and that the company’s diesel vehicles were polluting the environment 40 times more than normal.
Recognizing that deceptive software was used in the emissions tests of approximately 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide, Volkswagen was fined a large sum by the US court.
The diesel scandal was widely criticized for damaging the image of the country’s car manufacturing base among the German public. (AA)