DPA
Audi export vehicles in the port of Emden: Against four ex-managers of the VW subsidiary was charged in the US indictment. Rupert Stadler does not count
The US judiciary wants in the Exhaust scandal of Volkswagen Group now also presumed responsible of Audi hold to account. An indictment was filed against four ex-employees of the VW subsidiary, as the competent court in Detroit on Thursday (local time) announced. According to the indictment, the accused are former high-ranking executives who were responsible for engine and diesel development at Audi. Former CEO Rupert Stadler is not among them.
The men are alleged to have been part of a nearly 10-year conspiracy that violated US environmental laws through targeted manipulation of emissions tests and fraud committed against customers.
VW had admitted in September 2015, under pressure from the US authorities, to have tricked with the help of a special software on a large scale in the measurement of emissions. The group later gave a guilty verdict in court.
In a US trial, the accused ex-Audi employees would face severe penalties. Two former VW employees were already convicted of complicity in the “Dieselgate” scandal over three or seven years in prison. However, according to the judiciary, none of the accused appeared in court, which means that the men are not in custody. Perhaps they are like a whole series of defendants – including former VW boss Martin Winterkorn – in Germany, from where no imminent extradition threatens.
At the corporate level, VW has largely completed the legal review of the US exhaust emissions issue after some expensive compromises with public authorities and private class plaintiffs. The company had to pay high penalties for the scandal and has already booked more than 25 billion euros in legal costs for comparisons in North America. However, the US judiciary had already made it clear that the matter is not over and the investigation against the responsible heads behind the fraud persist.
la / dpa-AFX