In the fraud process surrounding the diesel scandal Audi one of the accused engineers wants to achieve a mild sentence with a comprehensive confession. The engine developer Giovanni P., who had previously admitted joint responsibility for the exhaust gas manipulations, confessed to the allegations made against him before the Munich Regional Court on Tuesday. At the hearing, the Italian explained to his defense attorney, Walter Lechner, that he knew that the so-called defeat devices could not be in compliance with the law.
The court had previously expressly missed such an admission and therefore only rated earlier statements by the engineer as a partial admission. P. has now confessed “that in his actions in connection with defeat devices he had the insight that these could not be in accordance with the law,” he had his defense attorney present. The lawyer emphasized that this was a complete confession.
Judge promises suspended sentences if convicted
The accused and his lawyer reacted to pressure from the court on the 162nd day of the trial. The presiding judge Stefan Weickert had this engineer, the co-accused former Audi boss Rupert Stadler and the former Audi engine boss and Porsche– Board member Wolfgang Hatz threatened with a conviction for fraud. Up to ten years in prison. After two and a half years of negotiations, Weickert sees enough evidence for a conviction.
In the case of comprehensive confessions, however, suspended sentences are possible, the judge said a week ago. Stadler and Hatz, who have always rejected the allegations, have not yet commented on them. Their defense attorneys agreed with the court on Tuesday that there would be a further period of reflection until the second half of April.
The fourth defendant has been off the hook since Tuesday. Judge Weickert said the proceedings against engineer Henning L. would be discontinued for a fee of 25,000 euros. The money should benefit two environmental and nature conservation associations. Prosecutors dropped their charges of fraud, indirect false certification and criminal solicitation against this man. The lowest-ranking of the four accused so far is considered innocent.
According to the previous result of the two-and-a-half-year hearing of evidence, L., together with two co-accused superiors, had arranged for the design of the fraud software with which the engines only complied with the nitrogen oxide limits on the test bench, but throttled the exhaust gas cleaning on the road.
The process is one of the most prominent legal proceedings in the handling of the diesel scandal Volkswagen and the subsidiary Audi. The scandal surrounding millions of manipulated exhaust gas values was exposed in September 2015. The Munich criminal trial has been running since September 2020. According to the indictment, the engineers are said to have manipulated engines in such a way that they complied with legal emission values on the test bench, but not on the road. Audi boss Stadler is said to have failed to stop the sale of the manipulated cars after the scandal became known.