The Braunschweig Regional Court in northern Germany on Monday convicted four former Volkswagen executives of fraud over the “Dieselgate” scandal.
The scandal surrounding the manipulation of diesel car emissions tests came to light in September 2015.
Prison time for Volkswagen executives Two of the executives were sentenced to several years in prison, with two other former employees receiving suspended sentences.
The highest-ranking defendant, a former member of the Volkswagen brand’s development board, received one year and three months’ probation.
A former department head was sentenced to one year and ten months’ probation.
Four former Volkswagen executives were found guilty of fraud in connection with the “Dieselgate” scandal on Monday by the Braunschweig Regional Court in northern Germany.
A nearly four-year trial comes to an end with the verdict. In September 2015, the controversy involving the falsification of diesel vehicle emissions tests was revealed. The carmaker, based in Wolfsburg, had just acknowledged that it had produced erroneous test results in the United States.
Volkswagen executives will go to prison.
Two former employees received suspended sentences, and two executives received sentences of several years in prison.
Four and a half years in prison was the sentence imposed on a former head of diesel engine development. The former head of drive electronics was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison.
One year and three months of probation was imposed on the top defendant, a former member of the development board for the Volkswagen brand. A probationary period of one year and ten months was imposed on a former department head.
Dieselgate, a global scandal, sent the carmaker based in Wolfsburg into a serious crisis.
Volkswagen has been the target of innumerable lawsuits, and the scandal is estimated to have cost the company over €30 billion ($34 billion).
In only one instance had the public prosecutor’s office deemed probation appropriate and had demanded two to four years in prison. But the defense argued for one warning and three acquittals.
Uncertainty surrounds the former CEO’s legal actions.
Martin Winterkorn, the former CEO, was initially scheduled to stand trial with the four, but the trial was postponed for his health before it started in September 2021.
Since then, Winterkorn has made court appearances as a defendant and a witness, consistently denying any involvement in the controversy.
His case has been further disrupted by a recent accident and hospitalization, and it is still unclear whether or when the now 78-year-old will face charges again.
Formerly the highest-paid executive in Germany, Winterkorn resigned soon after the scandal surfaced, but he has denied any personal accountability. In court, prosecutors claimed he was aware of the illicit software as early as May 2014, which is much earlier than the date he has admitted.
Wesley Dockery was the editor.
