The first criminal judgments in the diesel scandal that came to light in Germany in 2015 have now been passed. The Munich regional court has sentenced former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler to a suspended sentence of one year and nine months. The chamber found him guilty of fraud on Tuesday.
The two co-defendants – former head of engine development and later Porsche board member Wolfgang Hatz and engineer P. – received suspended sentences for fraud. The verdicts are not yet final.
Ex-Audi boss: Sales stopped too late
Hatz and the engineer P. had confessed to handling the manipulation of diesel engines. In doing so, they met the emission values on the test bench, but throttled the emission control on the road. In turn, Stadler admitted that it was too late to stop selling engineered cars.
The suspended sentences are linked to the payment of high fines. The public prosecutor had already approved the suspended sentences for Stadler and P. as part of an agreement in the process, but demanded a prison sentence without probation in the Hatz case.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
