There is some progress in the legal settlement of the emissions scandal at the Volkswagen Group. Former CEO Martin Winterkorn must appear in court.
It has been over a year since Winterkorn (73) was officially charged by the German justice for his role in ‘Dieselgate’. Today the judge in Braunschweig (near ‘VW capital’ Wolfsburg) has given the green light for further legal proceedings regarding the former CEO. The main charge remains fraud and the court has now clarified what is being charged in concrete terms: “The fraud charge concerns 9 million cars sold in Europe and the United States. the court said Automotive News.
In addition, there are even smaller charges. At least one major charge, breach of trust, will not be considered in the lawsuit. It is not yet clear when the lawsuit will start. Winterkorn is still waiting for it as a retiree. He stepped down as CEO in 2015 and said he was unaware of this state of affairs at the time of the emission fraud. However, the prosecutor, the Braunschweig Public Prosecution Service, thinks so and it seems that the German court has now seen enough to actually bring Winterkorn to the fore. In addition to Winterkorn, there must be four other unnamed (former) top executives of the Volkswagen Group.