Volkswagen sues ex-CEOs for breaching "duty of care" over Dieselgate

German automotive giant Volkswagen has said that it intends to claim damages from former CEO Martin Winterkorn and former Audi chief Rupert Stadler over the Dieselgate emissions scandal, accusing them of breaching their "duty of care".

The auto company said that after a lengthy legal investigation, it had concluded that the two former chief executives had failed to act responsibly, but found no evidence that violations had been carried out by other board members.

The two CEOs both deny any wrongdoing. Winterkorn's legal team has said in a statement that he regretted the decision taken by the board and outright rejected the accusations.

Read more: Ex-Audi boss blames engineers for dieselgate scandal

The statement said that Winterkorn was "aware that the supervisory board is obliged to assess potential claims and to possibly assert them. He will therefore seek to clarify those questions in consultation with Volkswagen AG."

Winterkorn resigned as the company's CEO in November 2015, shortly after the news of the emissions scandal broke.

The scandal has cost VW over €30 billion in legal costs, fines and compensation. 

"The Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG has drawn a line under its clarification process and ended its investigation started in October 2015 into the causes of the diesel crisis and who was responsible for this," said Volkswagen in a statement.

"As a result, the Supervisory Board decided at its meeting today to assert claims for damages against the former Chairman of the Group Board of Management, Prof. Martin Winterkorn, and the former Group Board of Management member and Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, Rupert Stadler, on account of breaches of the duty of care under stock corporation law."

In 2015, the company's admission to having used illegal software to rig millions of diesel engine tests in the US began the largest scandal in its history.

One key finding in Friday's decision was that Winterkorn had failed to act responsibly in the period following what it called a "crisis conference" on July 27, 2015. During this time, it is claimed that the former CEO had the information on "the use of inadmissible software functions in 2.0-litre vehicles, that were sold in the North American market in the years between 2009 to 2015."

Read more: Volkswagen faces Germany's biggest ever lawsuit over "dieselgate"

Volkswagen's supervisory board also found that during his time as Audi CEO, Rupert Stadler had failed to investigate from September 2016 whether the illegal software had been included in the company's engines that were built into VW, Audi and Porsche models in the EU.

Winterkorn, along with four other former and current executives, will be tried on charges of organised commercial fraud and serious tax evasion, which can carry ten-year jail sentences and heavy fines.

The trial's start date was recently postponed by a district court due to the continuing pandemic. The court set a new date for the trial of September 16.

Stadler was the first of the executives to go on trial over the scandal, with proceedings opening last year in Munich.

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