Four former Volkswagen directors convicted over Dieselgate fraud

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Four of the former Volkswagen managers were condemned to fraud in the diesel, 10 years after the discovery of the fraud scandal in emissions that has since cost the company since then 32 billion euros.

On Monday, a German regional court sentenced the former VW president to develop a diesel engine for four and a half years, while the former President of the company Drive Technology received two years and seven months, according to Deutsche Press. Two other hanging sentences were distributed.

Although the Braunschweig court ends in a four -year trial, its conclusion is far from the end in the attempts of the prosecutors to reveal the extent of the fraud of emissions within the company. A court spokesman said on Monday that four other criminal procedures against a total of 31 defenders were still suspended.

Volkswagen also faces a separate civil issue, where investors are looking for compensation on the basis that the company has failed to inform the markets in a timely manner about the use of illegal emissions programs.

For trial, the prosecution collected more than 75,000 pages of evidence to demonstrate from leading the company to know – or helped coordinate – cheating on its emissions on a large scale.

While many senior executives, including the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hans Dieter Botche, avoided the trial after VW paid 9 million euros to settle the markets of the market, former CEO Martin Winperporan remained under criminal prosecution.

Winxorn, who already denied the charges, was part of the trial that ended on Monday, but his case had separated after his defense claimed that health cases prevented him from appearing in the court.

The procedures are scheduled to appeal against the former VW coach last year, but in January, the Bronching Court canceled all the upcoming hearings, noting that experts advise that Winperporn would not be appropriate to trial “at least in the coming months.”

A few VW employees were convicted of fraud on the diesel emissions scandal, as the company installed the programs with millions of vehicles to make them look much more environmentally friendly than it was already.

The only first manager of VW who spent time in prison for their involvement in the scandal is Oliver Schmidt, the former president of the company for the environment and engineering in Michigan. In 2017, Schmidt was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Detroit court, after being arrested during a holiday in the United States.

In 2023, former Audi coach Robert Stader admitted guilty of fraud due to the omission of the Munich court, but he avoided prison, and he had a suspension sentence instead.

Volkswagen said on Monday that it did not participate in the “criminal procedures” that concluded on Monday, and said it did not expect the referee to have “severe consequences” on the ongoing civil case.