As of: March 15, 2024, 3:24 p.m
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Martin Winterkorn, former CEO of Volkswagen AG, stands in the Braunschweig town hall.
© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
Ex-VW boss Winterkorn recently spoke out as a witness about the diesel affair.
He will be in the dock himself from September.
The court combines the allegations against him and sets almost 90 dates.
Braunschweig - Almost exactly nine years after the diesel scandal at Volkswagen was exposed, ex-company boss Martin Winterkorn is due in the dock.
The two criminal proceedings against the 76-year-old will be combined for a trial that is scheduled to begin on September 3rd in Braunschweig.
As the regional court announced on Friday, the 16th Commercial Criminal Chamber is currently planning 89 appointments until September 2025. The proceedings against the once highest-earning manager in Germany will involve suspicion of fraud, false statements and market manipulation.
Only about a month ago, Winterkorn denied criminal responsibility for the emissions manipulations at the Wolfsburg car manufacturer.
“I think these allegations are inaccurate,” he said in February as a witness in the multi-billion dollar civil lawsuit brought by investors before the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court.
He was then questioned for four full days of trial.
Due to another operation in March, the next date for him as a witness is still unclear.
In February it was also announced by the Braunschweig Regional Court that a new medical report assumed that Winterkorn would be able to stand trial from September 2024.
In 2021, at the start of the first major Braunschweig criminal trial against ex-VW managers and engineers, Winterkorn's complex was separated for health reasons.
At the time, some described Winterkorn's absence from the legal process as a catastrophic message.
The diesel affair at Volkswagen was exposed in September 2015 and cost Winterkorn the executive chair at the Wolfsburg car manufacturer a few days later.
The top manager resigned, but did not want this to be seen as an admission of complicity.
He claimed that he had no knowledge of any illegal activity before the scandal became known.
This was followed by a flood of litigation and costs for VW, which the company estimated at around 32 billion euros.
Instead of using more expensive exhaust technology, the car manufacturer falsified the measured values using hidden software codes.
These ensured that the tests were fully cleaned, but emissions were many times higher during road use.
“If I had been given a complete picture of the internal processes in the responsible departments, I would not have hesitated to tackle the events directly and clarify them,” said Winterkorn during his testimony.
During his witness appearance in the Braunschweig town hall, it became clear that several operations had left their mark.
Winterkorn appeared to be in poor health.
With the district court's announcement, it is now clear that the scandal is for the former “Mr.
“Volkswagen” is far from over and he still has a few trips to Braunschweig ahead of him.
According to current planning, a verdict would be possible in 2025 - ten years after the affair became known, which developed into one of the biggest German industrial scandals.
dpa