VW diesel affair
After almost four years: the last word in the VW diesel process
Can the criminal responsibility for the VW diesel affair still be clarified almost ten years after the scandal has been exposed? A judgment is imminent in the large Braunschweig fraud process.
After almost four years with more than 170 trial days, the fraud process for the VW diesel affair is facing the end. For this Friday (May 16) there is time for closing words of the accused, as a spokesman for the Braunschweig Regional Court said. It is still unclear whether all four former managers and engineers of the Wolfsburg car maker will make use of it.
In the past few days, the public prosecutor’s office and defense have presented their view of the extraordinary process to one of the largest German industrial scandals in several hours of Plädoyers. The law enforcement officers demanded three prison terms and once probation. The defense, on the other hand, advocated three acquittals and a warning.
Process full of opposites
From the beginning, the process in front of the Braunschweig business criminal chamber was shaped by this opposite perspective: there is a statement against statement. Engineers who are said to have proposed the switch -off device say accordingly: we have expressed concerns and warned of consequences. The superiors replied: Problems had been talked about, but never about illegal action.
In September 2015, it became known in the United States that VW had used a deception on a large scale that recognized exhaust gas tests and only then activated the full cleaning of emissions. The scandal became known worldwide as “diesel gate” and plunged Volkswagen into a deep crisis, the processing of which has long since cost the group more than 30 billion euros.
Key figure Winterkorn is missing
From the public prosecutor’s point of view, the accused have been convicted of fraud in the process of fraud that has been going on since September 2021. On the other hand, the four men vehemently defend themselves, see themselves more as a peasant victim and criticized from the start that a key figure is missing with ex-CEO Martin Winterkorn. The complex against 77-year-old had been separated for health reasons. The judgment in the current process could be made after the current planning on Monday, May 26th.
dpa
Source: Stern
