Former Volkswagen boss faces trial for ‘Dieselgate’ role
Al Jazeera
Martin Winterkorn in court nine years after German auto giant admitted rigging emissions tests.
After several delays, the criminal trial of former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn for his role in the “dieselgate” scandal has opened in Germany.
The trial began on Tuesday, nine years after the German auto giant admitted to cheating emissions tests, triggering global chaos in the industry. Winterkorn, accused of conspiracy to commit fraud, faces up to 10 years in jail.
Volkswagen said in 2015 that it had installed software to rig emissions levels readings worldwide. The case against the former CEO relates to about nine million vehicles sold in Europe and the United States, whose buyers faced financial losses running into hundreds of millions of euros, the regional court in Braunschweig city said.
Winterkorn resigned as head of the VW group – whose brands range from Porsche and Audi to Skoda and Seat – shortly after the crisis began.
The 77-year-old was supposed to stand trial in 2021 alongside four other VW executives, but proceedings against him were split off and postponed due to his poor health.
