Photo: ANP
Former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler should be sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the German carmaker’s diesel cheating scandal. This is what the Munich public prosecutor demanded on Tuesday. But Stadler wouldn’t actually have to serve that sentence if it were up to the prosecutor. However, he must also be fined €1.1m.
The engineer must also be sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, which he does not have to carry out, and a fine of €50,000. Former head of engine development Wolfgang Hatz faces three years and two months in prison. This sentence must be carried out because only sentences of up to two years can be commuted.
However, the prosecutor already stated at the beginning of his case that he did not see the three as the main ones responsible for the sjoemeldiesel scandal. According to him, it is “very questionable” whether there can be a legally responsible key person if “so many people involved in a company are going in the wrong direction”. But penalties still apply due to the significant damage and “massive environmental pollution” caused by diaphragm diesel engines.
The scandal revolved around setting up a program for diesel cars. I got to know the program that ran to measure emissions and then put the engine into cleaner mode. As a result, diesel engines seemed to emit less harmful substances than they would during normal use.
The three suspects in the German trial, which lasted for more than two years, pleaded guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence. Hutz and the engineer are accused of involvement in the diesel cheating program. As a result, tens of thousands of cars were sold in the US and Germany from 2008 to 2015, causing €2.2 billion in damage.
Former CEO Stadler is accused of not closing the diesel sale fast enough. As a result, from 2015 to the end of 2017, more than 26,000 cheat diesel cars were sold in Germany. This resulted in further damages of €69 million.
