Dusseldorf The raid in April 2018 caused a stir: around 160 police officers and a good 30 public prosecutors searched the building of the sports car manufacturer Porsche because of the emissions scandal. For two days they combed through ten objects. Managers were suspected of involvement in the manipulation of diesel engines. The allegations were of fraud and illegal advertising.
Three current or former high-ranking managers of the VW subsidiary were targeted, including Development Director Michael Steiner. The then engine boss Jörg Kerner was held in custody for three months because of the risk of escape and blackout. It was not the only search: At the end of February 2020, the investigators came again, and the number of suspects grew to seven former and active Porsche employees.
The public prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart has now completed its investigations at the highest levels of the Porsche hierarchy. The result: Unlike VW and its sister Audi, high-ranking managers avoid being charged and a public trial, as the Handelsblatt learned from several people familiar with the matter. Four former managers from Audi have been on trial since autumn 2020, including ex-CEO Rupert Stadler. In the case of VW, a quartet has also been in the dock since autumn 2021.
The public prosecutor’s office has now dropped the proceedings against Porsche board member Steiner against payment of money. “The accused was ordered to pay a sum of money to the state treasury,” confirmed a spokeswoman.
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Steiner’s defense attorney did not want to comment on this and referred to the company. “The proceedings against a member of the Porsche AG board of directors have now been discontinued without any finding of misconduct,” said a Porsche spokesman. “Paragraph 153a StPO is a termination of a procedure based on the principle of opportunity. It establishes no guilt and no misconduct.” In fact, the presumption of innocence legally still applies to Steiner.
Ex-motor boss now has a criminal record
The investigators drew a line under the proceedings against former engine boss Kerner in December 2021, as has only now become known. The district court in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt issued a penalty order against him for fraud – Kerner is therefore considered to have a criminal record. The manager was head of Porsche engines for eight years, and since April 2021 he has been responsible for the Macan model as site manager.
Kerner’s lawyer did not respond to inquiries. A Porsche spokesman said: “Only one employee was penalized for a limited number of vehicles in 2016 and 2017. The employee has not appealed to end the matter.”
Kerner was accused of being responsible for the fact that the control software in parts of the diesel vehicles that Porsche brought to the European market between March 2016 and November 2017 contained illegal defeat devices.
He also headed the task force that was to investigate the exhaust gas manipulations at the sister brand Audi after the scandal in the VW group became known in autumn 2015. After Kerner is said to have tried to hide a computer during the raid in April 2018, he had to be taken into custody.
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Kerner rejected the allegations. At the time, it was said from corporate circles that the manager only wanted to “back up” his work computer so that he could continue to carry out his daily tasks. After three months in prison, Kerner was released in July 2018.
The criminal proceedings against the third accused Porsche manager, whom the investigators targeted in 2018, have also ended – as with Steiner against payment of a monetary condition.
Investigations only at lower management level
According to their own statements, the prosecutors are still investigating the diesel scandal against “three employees who were working in the lower management level of Porsche AG at the time of the crime, two clerks from this company without personnel responsibility and two employees from another company”.
For Porsche AG, the process ended in May 2019. The company had to pay a fine of 535 million euros after investigators found breaches of supervisory duties in the development department. From 2009, the nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel vehicles with V6 and V8 engines did not meet the legal requirements, according to the authority.
Porsche was supplied with diesel engines by Audi because the sports car manufacturer does not develop or produce any itself. Impermissible defeat devices were installed in the Cayenne, Macan and Panamera models, for example. The Federal Motor Transport Authority ordered several recalls, almost 100,000 vehicles were affected.
More: In the dock: the judiciary is increasingly targeting top managers