Dieselskandal: Ex-VW manager sentenced to prison terms

In the criminal trial for the diesel affair, four former Volkswagen executives were guilty of fraud. The Wirtschaftsverkammer of the Braunschweig Regional Court condemned two defendants for several years of prison, two ex-employees received probation penalties.

With the judgment, a huge procedure comes to an end after almost four years. While the defendants are convicted from the point of view of the investigators, the men defend themselves and see themselves as a peasant victim. The public prosecutor had asked for between two and four years in prison and only considered in one case probation for it. The defense, on the other hand, advocated three acquittals and a warning.

The judgment is not final and the legal processing has not ended even after this verdict. In Braunschweig, after the first process and the complex against Winterkorn, four further criminal proceedings against a total of 31 accused are open, as a spokesman for the regional court said.

The scandal for manipulation in exhaust gas tests from diesel cars was blown up in September 2015. In the United States, the Wolfsburg carmaker had recently granted false test results. A few days later, CEO Winterkorn resigned. VW slipped into one of the biggest crises that the group has so far cost around 33 billion euros.

It was originally planned that the former Volkswagen group boss Martin Winterkorn will sit on the dock. However, his process part was separated before the start in September 2021 for health reasons. In the meantime, Winterkorn commented on both as a witness and as a defendant and pointed out the responsibility for the diesel scandal.

An accident with a stay in the clinic interrupted the trial against the most prominent defendant. It is completely open whether and when the procedure can be continued against the now 78-year-old.