Former Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn, whose trial in the Volkswagen Group’s diesel engine rigging case began on Tuesday, September 3, denies the accusations against him, his lawyer said, hoping to prove that he has not covered up the industrial scandal. He will give evidence on Wednesday about the charges against him.
Winterkorn, now 77, is particularly accused of “organized gang fraud”In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted to having manipulated a total of 11 million cars to produce much lower levels of nitrogen oxide emissions than they actually had.
The former boss of Europe’s largest carmaker faces up to 10 years in prison at the court in Brunswick, in the north of the country, not far from the manufacturer’s historic headquarters in Wolfsburg. His trial, initially scheduled for autumn 2021 together with four other former executives, was postponed and separated due to Winterkorn’s fragile state of health following several surgical operations.
The former boss was discreet upon his arrival at the court, telling reporters he was “pretty good” and that his love for “beautiful cars” had guided his career at the helm of the car giant. Denying his marital status to the judges on Tuesday, dressed in a dark suit, Winterkorn spoke slowly, leaning against the back of a chair.
Questions are being raised about his ability to cope with the pace of a lengthy trial with hearings scheduled until mid-2025. His lawyer said he hoped the case could go to trial sooner than expected. Winterkorn, an engineer with a keen eye for detail on every car, including racing cars, headed Volkswagen from 2007 to 2015 and then resigned after the scandal broke.
An unprecedented savings plan
Under his leadership, the Group and its brands VW, Audi, Skoda and Bentley, among others, grew from 330,000 to more than 600,000 employees, and sales soared from 6.2 million to 10 million vehicles worldwide.
The trial comes at a time when the Volkswagen empire, which had turned things around after Dieselgate, is considering an unprecedented austerity plan, with factory closures in Germany and layoffs, to cope with an extremely tense situation.
Mr Winterkorn is accused of having previously allowed the sale of vehicles fitted with fake software, despite his knowledge of its existence. The alleged fraud spanned from 2006 to 2015 and affected nine million vehicles, with damage estimated at several hundred million euros.
The prosecution claims that Mr. Winterkorn was aware “no later than May 2014” Mr Winterkorn is accused of fraud. He is also alleged to have knowingly authorised the dissemination of advertisements promoting the cars as environmentally friendly, with the aim of generating significant profits. He is also accused of having deliberately failed to inform the capital market in a timely manner about the financial risks associated with this fraud. The focus of the trial will therefore be on determining when exactly Mr Winterkorn became aware of the massive fraud and how he handled this information.
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Among the witnesses expected are Hans Dieter Pötsch, former CFO of Volkswagen, and Herbert Diess, who arrived in July 2015 to head the VW brand. These two executives avoided criminal proceedings in 2020 thanks to a financial agreement of 9 million euros with the courts.
The Volkswagen Group, for its part, “is not involved in the trial”According to a spokesperson for the group, the Wolfsburg group has had to pay around 30 billion euros in reimbursements, compensation and legal costs since 2015, mainly in the United States, where the group pleaded guilty to fraud and obstruction of justice.
