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Martin Winterkorn: When the indictment was approved, the judges exacerbated the charge of serious fraud.
You see evidence of "gang fraud"
Photo: Philipp Guelland / dapd
When the trial against
Martin Winterkorn
(73) and four other people in charge of the car manufacturer begins, it has not yet been determined, as the Braunschweig regional court announced on Wednesday.
When the indictment against Winterkorn was admitted, the criminal chamber partially exacerbated the prosecution's allegations: instead of the accusation of serious fraud made by the public prosecutor, the judges even suspect that Winterkorn and other managers have merged into a gang for this purpose.
In the most extreme case, the defendants face prison sentences of up to ten years.
In the case of the accusation of vehicle tax evasion raised by the public prosecutor's office, the judges suspect a particularly serious case because the damage could amount to up to 820,000 euros.
Allegations of infidelity dropped
On the other hand, as unfounded from the outset, the court rejected the public prosecutor's assumption that the defendants were guilty of embezzlement towards the Volkswagen Group.
There is also no reason to suspect indirect false certification because the manipulation of the registration certificates is not covered by this section of the law.
Winterkorn's defense lawyers welcomed the "streamlining of the allegations" against Winterkorn and again denied the other allegations.
Whether the suspected crimes can be proven to the accused must now be clarified in a court hearing that will probably take years.
According to its own information, the court is still talking to those involved in the proceedings about possible dates.
As the first major criminal case in the Volkswagen diesel scandal in Germany, however, the trial against former Audi boss
Rupert Stadler
(57)
begins in Munich at the end of September
.
VW has paid 30 billion euros so far
In September 2015, under pressure from the US environmental protection agency EPA, Volkswagen admitted to having manipulated millions of diesel exhaust gas values using a shutdown device.
This ensures that diesel cars comply with the nitrogen oxide limit values on the test bench, while on the road they emit many times this toxic exhaust gas.
The reparation of the scandal has cost Volkswagen around 30 billion euros so far, mainly fines and compensation payments in the USA.
The end of the numerous processes by customers and investors around the world is still not in sight.
In addition to the corporate headquarters in Wolfsburg, the Audi subsidiary in Ingolstadt also played an important role.
Winterkorn, Stadler and numerous other managers and engineers had to leave.
A Volkswagen spokesman emphasized that the company had a vested interest in the legal processing of the matter, but was not involved in this process.