Former Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn, who is being prosecuted in the unprecedented “dieselgate” scandal, on Wednesday called the accusations against him over the engine-rigging fraud “inconceivable”, explaining that his strategic responsibilities had kept him away from technical issues.
“Criminal charges against me, as the prosecution is attempting to do (…), are inconceivable,” said the ousted former chief executive, concluding a statement read on the second day of his trial in German courts, where he risks being sentenced to prison.
In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted to having manipulated a total of 11 million cars to produce much lower levels of nitrogen oxide emissions than they actually did. Martin Winterkorn was forced to resign.
Although he admits to having been “closely linked” to Dieselgate through his management roles, the 77-year-old former boss says he “was not involved in decisions relating to the development and use of an irregular software function in new VW diesel engines.”
“I am not a computer specialist”
He explained that his role focused on “strategic decisions” about the direction of the group, its brands and products, with his fellow executives. He clarified that it was not his responsibility to address “technical challenges.”
“I’m not a computer specialist and there’s nothing to see in the software anyway,” said the boss, best known for inspecting engine and other visible parts of vehicles with his flashlight during visits to stands at car shows.
Internally, the technicians “assured me that they were working intensively on the problem of reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.” However, he said he had not received any written report “on a software function, not even critical from a legal point of view.”
He also said that he would never have accepted that customers were deceived when buying or selling a fake vehicle, or that he would have kept shareholders in the dark about the risks, as the prosecution will try to prove.
His lawyers read out parts of his lengthy statement. Weakened by several surgical operations, Martin Winterkorn has benefited from several postponements of his trial, which is taking place nine years after the scandal was revealed and which was due to last a year.
Source: BFM TV
