As of: February 14, 2024, 11:58 a.m
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Martin Winterkorn (M), former CEO of Volkswagen AG, stands in the Braunschweig town hall with his lawyers Kersten von Schenck (l) and Felix Dörr.
© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
The diesel scandal swept Martin Winterkorn from his position as CEO of Volkswagen in 2015.
As a witness in court, he describes his view of the emissions cheating.
Braunschweig - Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn has denied responsibility for the diesel scandal at the car manufacturer in court.
“I think these allegations are inaccurate,” said the 76-year-old on Wednesday as a witness before the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court.
Winterkorn was referring to the two criminal proceedings that are also pending against him in Braunschweig.
At the district court, Winterkorn is charged with, among other things, commercial fraud and unsworn false statements in the Bundestag investigative committee.
A second case concerns violations of the Securities Trading Act, in which the former manager is accused of not having informed the capital market in a timely manner, despite being aware of this.
“I have decided to testify here as a witness in order to make my contribution to clarifying the facts in the so-called diesel complex,” said Winterkorn in a personal statement.
In the proceedings under the Capital Investor Model Procedure Act, investors have been fighting for damages since 2018 because they suffered price losses after the scandal was exposed.
The OLG is currently dealing with around 4.4 billion euros.
Winterkorn claims to have only found out about problems with the US authorities “very late” and “incompletely at first”.
“If I had been given a complete picture of the internal processes in the responsible departments, I would not have hesitated to tackle the processes directly and clarify them,” said Winterkorn.
If necessary, he would have flown to the USA himself to speak confidentially with the authorities, he said.
dpa