VW diesel scandal – Ex-Audi boss admits guilt in one word: “Yes!”

The verdict in the trial, which has been going on for more than two and a half years, is scheduled for June. In addition, Stadler must pay a cash requirement of 1.1 million euros. The public prosecutor’s office has already approved the scheme proposed by the court. Stadler announced his confession at the beginning of May and has now fulfilled it.

Stadler had the confession read out by his lawyer on Tuesday. “I can see for myself that more care would have been needed,” says the lawyer on behalf of Stadler. “I was not aware that vehicles had been tampered with and damaged buyers as a result, but I recognized it as possible and accepted it with approval.” He deeply regrets that. When asked by Judge Weickert if he has internalized the words, Stadler simply said, “Yes.”

Test of exhaust gas values ​​manipulated millions of times
The lawsuit is one of the most prominent legal proceedings in the Volkswagen Group related to the diesel scandal. Stadler is the first Volkswagen Group board member to admit criminal responsibility. The scandal surrounding millions of manipulated emission values ​​came to light in September 2015.

Stadler has been on trial since September 2020, along with former Audi engine boss and Porsche development director Wolfgang Hatz and an engineer. Stadler’s co-defendants have confessed to having manipulated engines.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, this means that the legal exhaust gas values ​​were met on the test bench, but not on the road. Stadler would not have succeeded in stopping the sale of the manipulated cars after the scandal broke. He was imprisoned for several months in 2018 and had to resign as Audi boss and board member of the Volkswagen Group.

At the end of March, Judge Weickert stated that he considered essential elements of the indictment to be as good as proven. He therefore threatened all three suspects with prison sentences of one and a half to two years, which would be suspended if they confessed. In the case of Stadler and the engineer, the prosecutor agreed to such a deal.

Engine Chief Hatz gets no deal
In the case of Hatz, however, prosecutors are pushing for a prison sentence. However, the court is not bound by the voice of the prosecutors.

Originally, the public prosecutor held Stadler responsible from September 2015 because the manipulations had become clear to him by then. Since March, however, the court has assumed that this was not the case until ten months later. Stadler would only be responsible for cars sold from July 2016. Moreover, according to the court, Stadler is no longer dependent on vehicles that are sold throughout Europe, but only on vehicles that have gone to German dealers and leasing companies of the Volkswagen Group.

Stadler denied allegations for years
Stadler has denied the allegations for years. Most recently, his lawyers spent weeks playing poker with the court and prosecutor’s office over the terms of a confession and a suspended sentence. The defense lawyers have been wrestling with Weickert over the text of the confession in recent days, the judge announced on Tuesday.

In his own words, Weickert described an initial draft as “in need of clarification”. The monetary demand that Stadler had to pay in addition to the suspended sentence was also heavily negotiated. Finally, the parties agreed that Stadler would transfer 1.1 million to the state treasury or to non-profit organizations. The court will only state the details and the exact sentence in the verdict.