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Daimler logo in Untertürkheim: penalty orders in connection with impermissible defeat devices
Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
The Stuttgart public prosecutor has applied for criminal orders from the Böblingen district court for alleged involvement in the diesel scandal against three Daimler employees.
It is about the suspicion of fraud, said a spokeswoman for the authorities.
She did not provide any information about the type and amount of the penalty applied for.
A fine or a suspended prison sentence of up to one year can be imposed.
First, the "Wirtschaftswoche" reported on the penal orders.
It is about the allegation of manipulation of the emissions control system of cars with diesel engines from Daimler.
According to the information, those affected are an employee from one of the lower management levels of the company and two clerks without personnel responsibility.
According to the public prosecutor's office, you are accused of having been responsible for the fact that the engine control software of some of the diesel vehicles in the Euro 6 emission class contained an inadmissible defeat device. These vehicles were affected by a recall by the Federal Motor Transport Authority. Daimler launched the cars on the European market between August 2011 and December 2016.
Daimler confirmed that the Stuttgart public prosecutor had applied for penal orders in individual proceedings against three employees.
According to the company's knowledge, "the interpretation of the highly complex regulations by the employees at the relevant point in time" was, however, "justifiable" and was not done with the intention of acting unlawfully.
Daimler therefore "did not share the public prosecutor's legal assessment that the matter in question was fraud."
The prosecution said that proceedings against another clerk had been discontinued against the payment of a monetary requirement.
The investigations against four people have not yet been concluded.
fdi / dpa
