It risks going down in history Rupert Stadlerthe former CEO of Audi, who may soon become the first senior executive to be convicted as part of the Dieselgate scandal that has rocked Volkswagen and the automotive world as a whole since the middle of last decade.
Prison risk
Yesterday, in fact, a Munich court expressed a preliminary assessment according to which an accusation of fraud against Stadler and two other defendants was certified. In addition to Stadler, the accusation has also been certified against former Audi executive Wolfgang Hatz and an engineer named Giovanni Pamio: as reported by Autonews, which quotes the president of the aforementioned court, Stefan Weickert, i three accused could face prison sentences, which would be suspended only in case of full confession.
Two other former engineers under indictment
In connection with the same allegation, dating back to 2020, there would also be a fourth defendant, also an engineer, but in this case the Munich court itself has not found any significant evidence of a crime. We recall that, according to the German law currently in force, the crime of fraud is punishable by the penalty of imprisonment for one maximum of ten years: in the case of Stadler and the other two engineers under indictment, the final sentence is expected in the coming months.
Different charges
According to prosecutors, however, the three engineers manipulated the diesel engines in such a way as to comply with the legal exhaust emission values on the test bench, but not on the road. Stadler, on the other hand, is accused of not having stopped the sale of the “manipulated” cars once the Dieselgate scandal came to light. Fallen instead the other charges against the defendants themselves: we are talking about indirect involvement in the forgery of documents and misleading advertising linked to false levels of car pollution.
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