Dusseldorf, Munich The ranks in the process of manipulated diesel engines at Audi are thinning: since this Wednesday, only three former managers of the VW subsidiary have been in the dock for the first time. The Munich II district court dropped the proceedings against the engineer Henning L. shortly before Easter against payment of 25,000 euros. L. had supported the judiciary as a key witness at an early stage in clarifying the scandal and made a confession.
After around two and a half years of trial, the former Audi boss Rupert Stadler as well as Wolfgang Hatz and Giovanni Pamio are still on trial. It probably won’t stay that way – and the process could be coming to an end soon. Ex-motor developer Pamio also recently admitted his actions and made a comprehensive confession.
Now there is much to suggest that Hatz, the former head of unit development, is also taking such a step. That would be a spectacular turnaround, because both managers had always rejected the allegations during the 162 days of negotiations.
On Wednesday morning, the court interrupted the ongoing main hearing. The reason: the judge, the public prosecutor and the defense attorneys for the three accused sat down for a so-called legal talk. In criminal proceedings, this is the attempt to bring about an agreement between the accused, the public prosecutor’s office and the court.
According to judicial circles, lawyers and the court do not want to comment on the content and a possible result of the conversation until the next public hearing on April 25th.
guilty verdict likely
The trial against Stadler is one of the most prominent legal proceedings in dealing with the diesel scandal at Volkswagen and its subsidiary Audi. The scandal involving millions of manipulated emissions values was exposed in September 2015.
According to the indictment, Hatz, Pamio and L. manipulated engines in such a way that they complied with the legal emission values on the test bench, but not on the road. Stadler, in turn, is said to have failed to stop the sale of the affected cars after the scandal became known. Stadler and Hatz have always denied the allegations.
There is an obvious reason why the legal talks have now taken place: at the end of March, the criminal court led by presiding judge Stefan Weickert took stock and made it clear that they considered the men in the dock to be guilty. Only with a confession, the judges hinted, could the ex-Audi manager get away with a suspended sentence.
The court is convinced that both Hatz and Stadler are guilty. Hatz was therefore directly involved in the manipulation of the engines. He also knew that software would be used to detect whether a vehicle was on the test bench or on the road. Exhaust gas cleaning was active in the test laboratory, but was reduced on the road.
In this way, the vehicles saved the urea Adblue, which had to be injected to neutralize the nitrogen oxides. However, the tanks in the cars were much too small for cost reasons.
The former head of aggregate development at Audi could bring about a turnaround in the process.
(Photo: dpa)
The allegations against Stadler are different: he was not directly involved in the technical development of the diesel engines. Rather, as Audi boss, he allowed dirty cars to continue to be sold, even though he already knew about the diesel manipulations, according to the accusation.
Stadler and Hatz face imprisonment
Both Hatz and Stadler were already in custody. Stadler was held in the Augsburg-Gablingen prison for around four months, and Hatz was even held in Munich-Stadelheim for nine months. This pre-trial detention would count towards a prison sentence. Nevertheless, both Audi managers would have to reckon with going to prison again if they were convicted.
At least under civil law, Stadler and Hatz do not face any further trouble. This is not a matter of course, because the usual manager liability insurances do not step in in the event of intentional crimes.
But the VW Group has already reached an agreement with its former management team and the insurance consortium: in mid-2021, a payment of 288 million euros was agreed. Insurers contributed the lion’s share. Former VW boss Martin Winterkorn paid a good eleven million into the pot, Stadler 4.1 million euros and Hatz 1.5 million euros.
However, the three remaining defendants are likely to face high payments elsewhere. The legal costs would have to be borne by them in the event of a conviction. Those involved in the process say that in the end these could probably be significantly more than two million euros.
And the approaching end of the first criminal proceedings does not mean that the criminal investigation into the diesel scandal at Audi is complete. The Munich II public prosecutor’s office had already submitted another indictment in the summer of 2020: It is directed against the former development directors Ulrich Hackenberg and Stefan Knirsch, the former purchasing director Bernd Martens and the now retired developer Richard Bauder. In the past, the accused have always denied the allegations.
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