The Economic Criminal Court at the Munich Regional Court has sentenced former Audi boss Rupert Stadler to one year and nine months in prison on probation. She found the ex-manager from the Volkswagen Group guilty of fraud because he did not stop selling cars with engine controls that falsified exhaust gas values in good time.
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The way to the confession was through a deal
In addition, Stadler was obliged to pay 1.1 million euros to the state justice fund in Bamberg and to various non-profit associations, plus legal costs in the millions after 171 days of negotiations. Stadler shares this with his two co-defendants, the former head of engine development and later Porsche board member Wolfgang Hatz and an engine developer, whose fines amount to 400,000 and 50,000 euros respectively. His ex-colleagues also received suspended sentences, Hatz two years, the engineer one year and nine months. Before the verdict, the court and prosecutors had negotiated a so-called deal with Stadler to get Stadler to confess.
Audi wanted to save on larger urea tanks
The reason for the procedure were cars whose engine control allowed the nitrogen oxide limit values to be observed on the test bench, but not on the road. Among other things, the program included the option of recognizing the test bench run. With this measure, Audi wanted, among other things, to save the installation of larger urea tanks for exhaust aftertreatment after realizing that larger quantities of the chemical reactant are required to comply with the limit values.
Image 1 of 78 Mid-September 2015: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accuses the Volkswagen Group of having equipped diesel cars built between 2009 and 2015 with software that tricked the tests for US environmental regulations. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) came to similar findings. Both authorities send complaints to VW. (Pictured: EPA headquarters in Washington DC)
(Image: EPA
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This fraud had already been discovered in the USA at the end of 2015 and was soon also found in the models sold in Europe. However, Stadler ignored the indications of manipulative software in the Audi engines and did not end their sale in Europe until the end of 2017. In June 2018 he was taken into custody for collusion until he resigned four months later as Audi boss and VW board member. Stadler has already paid Volkswagen 4.1 million euros in damages for its breach of duty.
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