15 Apr 2019; DW: Public prosecutors in the German city of Braunschweig have brought charges against former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn over his role in the Dieselgate scandal, they said on Monday. Four other managers were also charged, they said.
Winterkorn stepped down as Volkswagen CEO in 2015 after revelations that the carmaker had programmed computers in its vehicles to detect when they were being tested and alter the running of diesel engines to conceal the true level of emissions.
What are the charges?
- The five "are accused of multiple crimes realized in a single criminal action, especially a particularly serious case of fraud and an infraction of the law against unfair competition."
- Winterkorn was given special mention for allegedly acting as a "guarantor" to authorities that VW was not selling manipulated vehicles "even after he knew about the illegal manipulations."
What could be the penalty? The prosecutors' statement said that the defendants could face from six months to 10 years' imprisonment if found guilty. It also said that they might have to forfeit any bonuses they had earned from sales based on the manipulation.
What charges are especially leveled at Winterkorn? Prosecutors said the former CEO knew about the emissions cheating as early as "May 25, 2014," more than a year before VW publicly admitting to using the software in its vehicles to make them seem less polluting under lab conditions than on the road. They said Winterkorn also oversaw the issue of a software update in November 2014 whose only purpose was to cover up the cheating devices.
Heavy costs
Volkswagen has already incurred costs of €29 billion ($32.8 billion) related to the diesel emission scandal, much of that in the United States by way of fines, compensation and buyback schemes. In Germany, it has paid €1.8 billion in two fines. The company is also facing cases brought by hundreds of thousands of customers in Germany wanting compensation for having bought vehicles that turned out to have been manipulated.
