Rupert Stadler, the former head of Volkswagen AG’s Audi brand, admitted to a German court he should have stepped in when sales of rigged vehicles continued months after the diesel scandal broke.
(Bloomberg) — Rupert Stadler, the former head of Volkswagen AG’s Audi brand, admitted to a German court he should have stepped in when sales of rigged vehicles continued months after the diesel scandal broke.
The confession at his Munich trial on Tuesday is part of a settlement with prosecutors and the court in exchange for a suspended sentence under which Stadler agreed to pay €1.1 million ($1.2 million). His statement was read out in court by his attorney, according to a spokesman for the tribunal.
The scandal over rigging millions of diesel cars cost Volkswagen more than €30 billion. Europe’s largest automaker had equipped vehicles with cheat mechanisms that reduced emissions to within legal limits during testing while polluting more than allowed under normal driving conditions.
Stadler, 60, has been on trial for fraud since 2020 and until recently had rejected any wrongdoing. Before his about-turn, Stadler had claimed he was misled by a group of rogue engineers over the functionalities of emissions-control software. Judges had previously told him they considered the allegations as being proven.
Prosecutors accused him of continuing to sell cars with manipulated engines even after the scandal burst into the open in late 2015. However, the court in March limited the case to the period starting July 11, 2016, and his confession only covered that time frame.
Stadler only admitted that he thought it was possible that rigged cars were sold then but didn’t know that for sure.
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