A German court has condemned four former top managers of Volkswagen to jail sentences for “fraud and ganging up”. It’s been almost ten years since the biggest scandal in the automotive world, known as the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal, broke out in the United States. Volkswagen Group had installed fraud software in its vehicles to circumvent official emission tests.
The Court of Braunschweig (Germany) condemned two former top managers, identified only by their first name and the initial of their family name in the official court message. Jens H. has to go to prison for 4 1/2 years, and Hanno J. will have to serve 2 years and seven months behind bars.
Two other managers got suspended prison sentences. One of them is Heinz-Jakob Neusser, the highest-ranking individual and responsible for technical development at Volkswagen, who received a sentence of one year and three months. The other is Thorsten D., who was sentenced to 1 year and ten months. They can all appeal against the verdict of this process, which started in September 2021.
“The authorities, who are supposed to certify the cars, have not been informed that emissions were much higher in real-world driving conditions,” commented the president of the court, Christian Schütz, when announcing the verdict. “It is clear that this behavior isn’t compliant with the law,” he added.
Not finished yet
The four men join the former Audi boss, Rupert Stadler, who has already been condemned in June 2023 by the same court to a prison sentence with suspension and a fine of €1.1 million. The highest-ranking suspect, former Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn, still has to appear before a separate trial that only started last year because of repeated health problems of the once emblematic VW boss. He risks being sentenced to up to ten years in jail. Apart from this trial, 31 other suspects are still to be judged in four different trials, according to a spokesman of the Braunschweig Court.
Dieselgate was one of the biggest scandals in the German industry and has heavily tarnished the reputation of Europe’s number one car manufacturer. In the end, Volkswagen admitted to having trafficked up to 11 million of its diesel cars. To date, with several procedures still ongoing, VW has already paid over 32 billion euros in fines and compensation.
“It was the greatest fraud case ever in the automotive industry,” comments the renowned German analyst Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, “and it will cost the VW shareholders in the end over €100 billion, causing immense prejudice.” At the same time, Dieselgate has altered the industry’s stance towards authorities. Confidence has disappeared and is only slowly returning between the parties involved.
