The US Justice has indicted ex-VW boss Winterkorn for manipulated exhaust emissions in diesel cars. Germany’s opposition parties register this with satisfaction – and renew allegations to the Federal Government.
Ex-Volkswagen chief Martin Winterkorn
Friday, 04.05.2018
13:55 clock
After Indictment of former VW boss Martin Winterkorn in the US The opposition in the Bundestag has attacked the federal government for its actions in the exhaust gas scandal.
“Looking into the United States exposes the complicity of the German government with the German motorists.With their doing nothing provokes the federal government downright the next fraud,” said Green Party leader Anton Hofreiter the SPIEGEL.
The grand coalition of CDU, CSU and SPD must finally force the auto industry to clean up this scandal comprehensively. “It must apply the principle: who causes the damage, must also stand straight for it.The cheated diesel drivers may not be the stupid in the end,” said Hofreiter.
The charge against winter grain includes several points, Law enforcement officers in Detroit accuse him of plotting to deceive authorities on emissions control and violate US environmental laws. According to the indictment, Winterkorn was already informed in May 2014 with an internal memo about the use of software for manipulating the measured values of nitrogen oxides. Winterkorn had always denied having known about it before autumn 2015. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions bluntly accompanied the prosecution and pledged that whoever wanted to cheat the US would “pay a high price.”
“Wannabe Law and Order Boys of the CSU”
Ex-Green leader Cem Özdemir criticized a careless handling of Germany with the exhaust gas scandal: “The would-law-and-order-boys of the CSU in the responsible Ministry of Transport” let the automobiles “get off with a few software updates,” said Chairman of the Transport Committee. This is a pity for German industry. He called for effective retrofits at the expense of manufacturers and an introduction of group lawsuits.
The transport policy spokesman for the FDP faction, Oliver Luksic, told the SPIEGEL: “Without ethics, liability and personal responsibility, the social market economy does not work, which raises the question of why the US, in contrast to Germany, tampering with manipulation more consistently.”
Winterkorn and other responsible VW managers should be “a fair, rule of law,” said the liberal politician. “Not only VW, but the state has failed as a shareholder of VW in Lower Saxony, especially the SPD-led state government and the unions.”
Left-wing politician Klaus Ernst called the charge “overdue”. It was not individual engineers who had “launched the mass fraud in a global corporation”. It was unimaginable that the top management of the group knew nothing about these “machinations”. The US indictment is an indictment of German justice and politics.
For the time being, however, the imposition has only limited immediate effects for Winterkorn. The ex-manager is currently not in the US and Germany is not delivering his citizens. In Germany, however, the prosecutor investigates Braunschweig against him – on suspicion of fraud and market manipulation.
The events in the US took the local prosecution accordingly only “interested to note”. “Just because the Americans accuse Mr. Winterkorn, that does not change our investigation concept,” said a spokesman for the prosecutor. Investigations in the exhaust gas scandal would continue unabated. He does not expect a conclusion of the fraud investigations this year.
Finally understandable
Winterkorn defender Felix Dörr was surprised by the actions of the American judiciary. The “Handelsblatt” He said, “We are astonished by the charges, and we acknowledge the indictment and we will clarify the way forward.” Dörr is working with US defender Steven Molo, who represents Winterkorn in the US.
VW had already made billions of dollars in criminal and settlement payments because of the scandal in the United States. The US judiciary had previously filed criminal charges against eight incumbent and former employees of the VW Group. Two of them have already become several years imprisonment and high fines.