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Almost five years after the emissions scandal at Volkswagen was revealed, the Braunschweig regional court approved fraud charges against former CEO Martin Winterkorn. The responsible chamber announced this on Wednesday. Winterkorn has to face the accusations in a public process; the moment when the process will begin is still open.
Against Winterkorn it is the accusation of serious fraud and the violation of the law against unfair competition in connection with the manipulation of the emission values of millions of vehicles. The camera sees enough suspicion in the former manager that he could be convicted of business and gang fraud. That is why the main proceedings were allowed. The now 73-year-old was indicted in April 2019 for his role in the diesel scandal.
Four other people also accused
Four other former and current Volkswagen employees are also charged. Against these individuals, the court sees sufficient suspicion of business and gang fraud, that is, in a unit with tax evasion in a particularly serious case and in a unit with criminal advertising. In some cases, the defendants are only accused of complicity in these crimes.
Buyers were duped and scammed by hundreds of millions
Buyers of certain VW group vehicles were misled about the condition of the cars and especially about the so-called shutdown device in the engine control software. As a result, compliance with nitrogen oxide emissions was only ensured on the test bench, but not in normal operation. The buyers would have suffered an economic loss of possibly several hundred million euros, according to a statement from the regional court.
At the beginning of the judicial hearing, the court announced that the chamber would first discuss the process with those involved in the process. Then the trading dates should be set.
The prosecutor had to go back to work
Observers really hoped that the trial against Winterkorn and other executives would have opened earlier this year. However, in January, the prosecution apparently had to go back to work: according to information in the online business magazine “Business Insider”, some starting points in the indictment are said to be “inappropriate” and in some cases , a “sufficient suspicion” is not foreseeable. Consequently, this was the charge of criminal advertising of manipulated diesel cars in the US and also the charge of fraud due to the continued sale of such vehicles. However, the court now granted the request.
In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted to altering the emission levels of diesel cars after inspections by authorities and investigation by US researchers. The software of certain engines was configured in such a way that nitrogen oxides were emitted. (NOx) significantly more toxic in actual on-road operation than in testing.
