Munich, Dusseldorf Rupert Stadler didn’t want to say much. The long-serving CEO of Audi just managed to utter a terse “yes” this Wednesday before the Munich District Court. But this “yes” should keep the 60-year-old from going to prison.
After more than 160 days of trial, Stadler agreed to a settlement proposal from the court and declared that he was willing to make a confession – as the last of four originally accused in the criminal proceedings surrounding the diesel scandal at the Volkswagen subsidiary.
This means that the first German criminal case relating to the diesel scandal is now coming to a speedy end. Audi is considered the nucleus of exhaust gas manipulation in the VW Group. A verdict could come in a few weeks, insiders expect early June.
Presiding judge Stefan Weickert made it clear that a suspended sentence for Stadler is only conceivable with a confession. Otherwise, Stadler, who had already been in custody for four months in 2018, would in all likelihood have threatened to go back to prison for fraud by omission.
In return for a confession, the judge had promised the ex-manager a suspended sentence of one and a half to two years and a fine of 1.1 million euros – and given him a deadline of this Wednesday to decide whether he agrees to the proposal.
Diesel scandal cost VW more than 30 billion euros
Stadler wants to make the confession itself in two weeks, as his defense attorney announced. After almost an hour, the ex-manager, in a blue jacket and no tie, left the courtroom without another word.
The process, which has been running since September 2020, is about who in technical development and on the Audi board knew about the manipulated diesel engines, which ultimately cost the Volkswagen Group more than 30 billion euros in fines and damages.
Exhaust scandal: Ex-Audi boss Stadler announces confession
Stadler headed the VW premium subsidiary from 2007 to 2018 and was one of the most powerful managers in the group. According to the indictment, Stadler failed to stop the sale of the manipulated cars after the scandal became known in autumn 2015.
According to the preliminary assessment of the Economic Criminal Court, Stadler should have recognized by July 2016 at the latest that the emission values of diesel cars could have been manipulated, judge Stefan Weickert made clear a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, he allowed the sale of the cars to continue without informing trading partners and stopping the fraud.
The court’s assessment and the confessions could also provide new fuel for customer claims against Audi. Most recently, in March of this year, the Federal Court of Justice stipulated that Audi’s liability for damages required that those responsible knew about the manipulation of the engines and nevertheless put them on the market.
Rupert Stadler has always denied allegations
Stadler had always rejected the allegations – as did Wolfgang Hatz. The former head of Audi engine development then made a U-turn last week and made a confession. According to the indictment, he and two other engineers are said to have manipulated engines in such a way that they complied with legal emission values on the test bench, but not on the road.
“I hereby fully admit the accusations against me,” Hatz had his defense attorney explain to the court. The “formative elements of the software” were known to him.
The court had previously made it clear that it considered the majority of the allegations made in the indictment to be proven after around two and a half years of trial. It was based, among other things, on the statements of an Audi engineer who, as a key witness, had supported the judiciary early on in clarifying the scandal and had made a confession. The court had already dropped the proceedings against the co-accused Audi manager at the beginning of April for a fine of 25,000 euros.
Shortly thereafter, Judge Weickert made the remaining three defendants an offer a few weeks ago: in the event of confessions, suspended sentences would be an option. The engineer Giovanni Pamio had then already made a full confession and stated that he knew that the defeat devices in the diesel engines were not in compliance with the law. Hatz, who had already been in custody for nine months from autumn 2017, followed.
The former head of Audi engine development made a confession last week.
(Photo: dpa)
In his case, however, the public prosecutor’s office – unlike Stadler and Pamio – does not want to agree to a suspended sentence. However, the court is not bound by the prosecutor’s vote.
In addition, Stadler and Hatz are not threatened with any further adversity, at least under civil law. The VW Group has reached an agreement with its former management team and the insurance consortium: in mid-2021 they agreed on a payment of 288 million euros. Insurers contributed the lion’s share. Former CEO Martin Winterkorn paid a good eleven million into the pot, Stadler 4.1 million euros and Hatz 1.5 million euros.
However, Stadler, Hatz and Pamio still have to face the legal costs. Those involved in the process say that in the end these could probably be significantly more than two million euros.
Diesel scandal: Further process is considered likely
It will probably not be the last trial of the diesel scandal at Audi. 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.
The prosecutors are still investigating against a further nine suspects, and according to the public prosecutor’s office, a conclusion can be expected “within the next six months”.
Overall, the authority had initiated investigations against several dozen Audi managers. The proceedings against 40 suspects have already been completed. The majority of the proceedings ended with suspensions against monetary conditions – 26 suspects paid between 3,000 and 100,000 euros. The investigators refrained from further prosecution against three people because of insignificance, and stopped three others due to a lack of suspicion.
The first criminal case relating to the manipulation of diesel engines by Audi parent Volkswagen has been running in Braunschweig since September 2021. Four former managers are accused there – the proceedings against ex-CEO Martin Winterkorn have been separated on the basis of a medical report. In addition, the public prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig has filed three other fraud charges – against a total of more than 30 VW managers and engineers.
Aside from the criminal investigation, lawyer Ralf Stoll, who represents numerous customers with his law firm in claims for damages due to the diesel scandal, now sees “enormously increased opportunities” for them. For him, Hatz’s confession and Stadler’s announced statement turn the damage claims against Audi and VW upside down. “The courts must now be clear that parts of the top management have acted intentionally. We are firmly convinced that the allegation of immoral damage has been confirmed,” says Stoll.
More: Ex-Audi top manager Wolfgang Hatz makes comprehensive confession in the diesel scandal.