The criminal case against former Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn in the “dieselgate” scandal opens on Tuesday, nearly nine years after the revelation of the globally-acclaimed engine-rigging scandal that shook the automotive industry.
Now 77, he is accused of “fraud by organised gangs”. In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted to having manipulated 11 million cars to make them show much lower levels of nitrogen oxide emissions than they actually had.
The former boss of Europe’s largest carmaker faces up to 10 years in prison before the court in Brunswick, in the north of the country, not far from the manufacturer’s historic headquarters in Wolfsburg.
His trial, initially scheduled for fall 2021 alongside four other former executives, was postponed and separated due to his fragile health following several surgeries.
Recently called to testify in another civil case against Volkswagen, he appeared very weakened on the fourth and final day of his hearing, according to a lawyer present.
Will he be able to cope with the pace of a long trial with hearings scheduled until mid-2025? He will have to travel to Brunswick twice a week from his home in Munich, Bavaria.
Coupled engines
The trained engineer led the Volkswagen empire from 2007 to 2015 before stepping down after the scandal broke. Under his leadership, the group and its VW, Audi, Skoda and Bentley brands, among others, grew from 330,000 to more than 600,000 employees, and sales rose from 6.2 million to 10 million vehicles worldwide.
Martin Winterkorn is accused by the court of having allowed the sale of vehicles fitted with counterfeit software, despite being aware of its existence. Nine million vehicles are involved and the damage is estimated at several hundred million euros. The alleged fraud spans from 2006 to 2015, but the prosecution has only used part of this period against the defendants.
He will also have to answer for false testimony before a parliamentary inquiry committee in 2017, when he declared that he only learned of the existence of the manipulated devices in September 2015. The prosecution claims he was informed earlier that year.
Finally, Volkswagen is accused of market manipulation: after the car fraud was discovered in the USA in the summer of 2015, it risked heavy fines and a drop in its share price. However, investors were not informed until 22 September of the same year, after the scandal had broken.
The focus of the trial will therefore be on determining when exactly Martin Winterkorn became aware of the massive fraud and how he handled this information.
30 billion dollar bill
Among the witnesses expected are Hans Dieter Pötsch, former CFO of Volkswagen, and Herbert Diess, who arrived in July 2015 to head the VW brand. These two executives avoided criminal proceedings in 2020 thanks to a financial agreement of 9 million euros with the courts.
The Volkswagen Group is not taking part in the trial, a spokesman for the group told AFP.
Since 2015, the Wolfsburg group has had to pay around 30 billion euros in reimbursements, compensation and legal costs, mainly in the United States, where the group pleaded guilty to fraud and obstruction of justice.
The only Volkswagen senior manager to have been tried so far, former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler, was sentenced in Munich in June 2023 to a suspended prison sentence and a fine of 1.1 million euros.
During his trial, he pleaded guilty to failing to stop the sale of premium brand vehicles despite knowing about the fraudulent software installed there.
Source: BFM TV
