The former executive director of Audi, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, who is being tried in Germany in the context of the “dieselgate” case, admits his responsibilities in the scandal of tampered with diesel engines, announced his defense in the Munich court on Tuesday.
Rupert Stadler said he “accepted” vehicles offered for sale with unauthorized software and “did not” inform Volkswagen partners, according to the brief statement read by attorney Ulrike Thole-Groll.
The 60-year-old former company boss is the main defendant in the first German criminal case related to the global “dieselgate” scandal.
When questioned after the brief statement by his defense, Rupert Stadler confirmed the statement with a “yes”.
Stadler has been on trial for two and a half years, along with other former Volkswagen executives, and has so far denied the allegations.
But negotiations with the Munich court turned the tables a few weeks ago: Rupert Stadler agreed to plead guilty and, in exchange for a full confession to the charges, he would receive a lighter sentence than ten years in prison.
Rupert Stadler, a financier by training, is accused not of instigating the fraud, but of knowing about the installation of the illegal software and doing nothing to prevent it, continuing to support the sale of rigged cars.
The defendant “regrets” not having been “able to resolve the crisis” within Volkswagen linked to the tampered engines and, therefore, accepts his criminal responsibility, according to his lawyer.
The court’s verdict is expected to be delivered in June. The former chief executive is expected to receive a suspended prison sentence of up to two years and pay a fine of 1.1 million euros, if the court’s proposal is accepted.
The auto giant Volkswagen admitted, in September 2015, having installed in 11 million vehicles of the brands of the group devices that made them appear less polluting in laboratory tests than they really were.
Dieselgate caused a worldwide scandal and severely damaged the reputation of the German car industry.
Source: TSF
