The continuation of the criminal trial against former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn (77) in the diesel affair has been postponed. The criminal chamber was informed that the 77-year-old was in hospital after an accident, the Braunschweig regional court said. The trial dates for this Wednesday and Thursday have been canceled.
The court did not want to provide further details about the accident at home or Winterkorn’s current state of health. It is therefore unclear whether and when the process will be continued. The court will comment later on the question of whether health reasons prevent the trial from continuing for a longer period of time.
Nine years after the emissions manipulation at the Wolfsburg car manufacturer was exposed, the trial against Winterkorn only began at the beginning of September. The former CEO denied any responsibility for the diesel affair. “Our client firmly rejects the allegations made against him. We are confident that we will achieve a good result for our client,” said his defense attorney Felix Dörr.
Winterkorn trial: 90 dates scheduled
The 77-year-old is accused of commercial fraud, market manipulation and unsworn false statements in the proceedings before the Commercial Criminal Chamber. Winterkorn is said to have deceived VW buyers about the quality of the cars and deliberately failed to inform the capital market in a timely manner about the risks of fines in the crucial days of September 2015. In 2017 he is said to have given false, unsworn testimony to the Bundestag investigative committee.
For the defense, however, it is clear that Winterkorn “did not cheat” and “did not harm anyone.” He also did not deliberately leave the capital market in the dark or tell the investigative committee in the Bundestag an untruth. The presumption of innocence applies.
Winterkorn was actually supposed to be in the dock with four other ex-VW managers and engineers in the first major fraud trial in Braunschweig. Shortly before the start of this procedure in 2021, his complex was separated for health reasons and should now be rebuilt. Almost 90 dates were scheduled for the criminal trial until September 2025.