In the criminal case against the former Audi-Boss Rupert Stadler (60) about improved emission values for diesel cars is expected to set a decisive course on Tuesday (9.15 a.m.). The district court in Munich has offered suspended sentences to Stadler and the former head of Audi engine development, Wolfgang Hatz (64), if they make full confessions. Now they have to say whether they accept the offer.
Stadler and Hatz have so far protested their innocence. The longtime CEO has argued that he was duped by his technicians. In the process, which has lasted two and a half years, the chamber came to the conclusion that Stadler should have recognized by July 2016 at the latest that the emission values of diesel cars could have been manipulated. He should have got to the bottom of the matter, stopped the tricks and informed the trading partners. Instead, he continued to tolerate the sale of the cars. Therefore, a prison sentence for fraud by omission comes into consideration for Stadler.
The former Head of Audi Engines and Porsche Technical Director Hatz has previously argued that the manipulations only took place after he moved to the VW Group. On the other hand, the chamber came to the preliminary conclusion that he had initiated the design of the software with which the nitrogen oxide limit values were observed on the test bench, but no longer on the road. This saved the carmaker from having to retrofit larger AdBlue tanks for exhaust gas cleaning.
Two co-defendant Audi engineers had already made full confessions. The proceedings against one of the two, who had appeared as a key witness from the start, were dropped three weeks ago against payment of a monetary condition.
The court, defense counsel and the public prosecutor’s office discussed the status of the proceedings and possible progress last week in a legal talk behind closed doors. On Tuesday, the presiding judge Stefan Weickert wants to disclose the content of the conversation and hear the statements of the defense lawyers and the public prosecutor’s office. The amount of the possible fines in the case of a suspended sentence should also play an important role. According to previous planning, the verdict could be announced in June.
Stadler, Hatz and the accused engineer had been in custody for several months. The first criminal trial of the diesel scandal in Germany began in September 2020.