(Brunswick) Former Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn, who has been on trial since Tuesday in the unprecedented “dieselgate” scandal, rejects the accusations against him, his lawyer said, hoping to demonstrate that he did not cover up the industrial scandal.
Mr Winterkorn “denies the allegations against him,” his lawyer Felix Dörr said on the first day of the trial, which began nine years after the revelation of the globally-resonant engine-fixing scandal that rocked the auto industry.
The accused will make a statement on Wednesday regarding the charges he faces, according to his lawyer.
Mr Winterkorn, now 77, is accused of “organised fraud”. In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted to having rigged a total of 11 million cars so that they displayed levels of nitrogen oxide pollution that were much lower than the reality.
The former boss of Europe’s leading carmaker faces up to 10 years in prison in the Brunswick district court in the north of the country – not far from the manufacturer’s historic headquarters in Wolfsburg.
His trial, originally scheduled for fall 2021 along with four other former executives, had been postponed and disbanded due to Mr. Winterkorn’s fragile health after several surgeries.
The former boss was discreet as he arrived at the court, telling reporters that he was “pretty well” and that his love of “beautiful cars” had guided his career at the head of the car giant.
PHOTO RONNY HARTMANN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The former boss of Europe’s largest car manufacturer faces up to 10 years in prison in Brunswick.
Declaring his civil status before the judges on Tuesday, dressed in a dark suit, Mr Winterkorn spoke slowly, leaning on the back of a chair.
There are questions about his ability to sustain the pace of a lengthy trial with hearings scheduled until mid-2025. His lawyer has said he hopes the case can be heard sooner than expected.
Tricked engines
Mr Winterkorn, an engineer who paid close attention to the details of every car, including those of competitors, headed Volkswagen from 2007 to 2015, then resigned after the scandal broke.
Under his leadership, the group and its brands VW, Audi, Skoda and Bentley, among others, grew from 330,000 to more than 600,000 employees, and sales rose from 6.2 to 10 million vehicles worldwide.
His trial opens at a time when the Volkswagen empire, which had recovered after Dieselgate, is considering a cost-cutting plan unprecedented in the company’s history, with factory closures in Germany and mass layoffs, to deal with an extremely tense situation.
Mr Winterkorn is accused of having previously allowed the sale of vehicles equipped with cheating software, despite knowing of its existence.
The alleged fraud spanned from 2006 to 2015 and involved nine million vehicles, with damage estimated at several hundred million euros.
The prosecution claims that Mr Winterkorn was aware of the fraud “by May 2014 at the latest”.
PHOTO TOBIAS SCHWARZ, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Martin Winterkorn in March 2015
In addition, he knowingly authorized the broadcast of advertisements promoting the cars as environmentally friendly, with the aim of generating significant profits.
He is also accused of deliberately failing to inform the capital market in a timely manner of the financial risks associated with this fraud.
The central focus of the trial will therefore be determining when exactly Mr Winterkorn became aware of the massive fraud and how he handled this information.
Bill of 30 billion
Among the witnesses expected are Hans Dieter Pötsch, former financial director of Volkswagen, and Herbert Diess, who arrived in July 2015 to lead the VW brand.
These two executives avoided a criminal trial in 2020 thanks to a financial agreement of 9 million euros with the courts.
The Volkswagen group, for its part, “is not involved in the trial,” a spokesperson for the group told AFP.
Since 2015, the Wolfsburg group has had to pay out around 30 billion euros in reimbursements, compensation and legal costs, mainly in the United States, where the group pleaded guilty to fraud and obstruction of justice.