Four former Volkswagen leaders sentenced to prison terms – Liberation
German justice condemned this Monday, May 26, four former leaders of the automaker Volkswagen on Monday, May 26 to sentences up to four and a half years in prison, according to the news agency Bloombergten years after the revelations of « dieselgate ».
After four years of trial, two of them, identified only by their initials by the Brunswick Court, were sentenced to prison sentences: four and a half years for Jens H. and two years and seven months for Hanno J. Two others have received a suspended prison sentences: Heinz-Jakob Nezient, the highest placed of the four, former technical development of the Volkswagen brand, Three months suspended prison sentence, and Thorsten D., a year and ten months suspended.
All will be able to appeal the decision, resulting from a trial started in September 2021. The four convicts of Brunswick were prosecuted for « Organized gang fraud » In connection with the global scandal that broke out in September 2015, when Volkswagen admitted to having manipulated millions of diesel vehicles to deceive antipollution tests.
« The authorities responsible for certifying cars were not informed that the emissions were much higher in real conditions, » said the president of the court, Christian Schütz, during the verdict statement. « It is clear that it was not in accordance with the law », he added.
The four men join the former CEO of Audi Rupert Stadler, the first to have been sentenced in this case In June 2023 to a suspended prison sentence and a fine of 1.1 million euros.
The main accused, Martin Winterkornex-emblematic boss quickly dismissed after the outbreak of the scandal, is judged in a distinct criminal trial, which started until last year due to health problems. He also risks a prison sentence, up to 10 years.
This affair, one of the biggest scandals in German industrial history, tainted the reputation of the first European automaker, which admitted having tampered 11 million of its diesel cars to hide the real level of their most toxic emissions.
To date, the German group, which has 10 brands, has paid more than 32 billion euros in fines, mainly in the United States. It is « The biggest case of fraud, which cost the shareholders of VW much more than 100 billion euros and thus caused immense damage », commented analyst Ferdinand Dudenhöffer.
In parallel, the Paris prosecutor’s office asked at the end of February a trial against Volkswagen, saying that the manufacturer can be tried in France after having already been convicted in Germany, despite the group’s challenges.
