BERLIN: Volkswagen’s former chief executive Martin Winterkorn (pictured) will stand trial over the car giant’s massive “dieselgate” scam, a German court said on Wednesday, five years after one of the biggest crises to rock the automobile industry.
“The chamber has determined that there is sufficient suspicion, that is, an overwhelming possibility of conviction, of the accused Professor Doctor Winterkorn for commercial and organised fraud,” said the court.
Winterkorn, 73, will stand trial with four other former colleagues, who are also accused of fraud, as well as serious tax evasion and fraudulent advertising.
Volkswagen sank into a deep tangle of legal problems over its stunning revelation in 2015 that it had installed devices in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide to make them seem less polluting than they were when undergoing emission tests.
Winterkorn resigned days after the revelations but denied any personal wrongdoing.
The “dieselgate” cheating scandal plunged one of the main pillars of German industry into the biggest crisis in its existence.
But the VW group had in May put to bed one of the most potentially damaging cases, by paying nine million euros in an out-of-court settlement to prevent its two current bosses from going to trial over market manipulation charges. — AFP
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