Audi's ex-CEO Rupert Stadler, who is currently on trial for the infamous 'dieselgate' scandal, has shifted the blame for the scandal squarely on the company's engineers.
Photo: ITU Pictures / Flickr Licence: CC BY
Stadler testified to a Munich court on Tuesday that engineers gave the management board at VW Group's luxury-car unit insufficient information to detect the fraud.
He is the first of several high-ranking VW executives to go on trial for the dieselgate scandal, which involved devices which allowed cars to appear to pollute less in a lab than they did on the roads - a mistake which has currently cost the company at least €32 billion.
Read more: Ex-Audi boss to stand trial for 'dieselgate' scandal
A separate trial is due to commence next month against former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn and several other suspects supposedly involved in the scandal.
Stadler's testimony sticks close to the standard corporate defence, which claims that any engine malfunctions are the fault of a group of rogue engineers.
He told the court rogue engineers used a "salami tactic" to get around internal scrutiny. He added that the engineers only gave small pieces of information instead of painting the whole picture to executives, hindering his ability to properly deal with the situation.
The scandal was first made public in 2015 after the US's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notified VW about their violation of the Clean Air Act. Shortly after, VW admitted full responsibility for the event.
Stadler was arrested in June 2018 and formally charged my Munich prosecutors in July 2019.
Stadler has been accused of failing to stop the sale of affected diesel cars in Europe, even following the EPA's discovery of the emission-cheating devices.
Thilo Pforde, his defence lawyer, lashed out at the prosecution in previous hearings, alleging they tried to force the former CEO to stand trial even though the charges levied against him were far less serious than those pushed against the other defendants.
Stadler himself has claimed the prosecutors have ignored evidence that shows his attempts to get to the bottom of the scandal.
He told the court he urged all employees to share relevant information and offered amnesty for whistleblowers. He added prosecutors “gave the impression of being biased.”
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The prosecution also claims former CEO Wolfgang Hatz knew about the emissions cheats as early as 2008, claims he has staunchly denied.
However, two former low-level Audi engineers claim board members were aware of malpractice involved in pushing supposedly clean-diesel cars in the US.
The trial is expected to carry on until at least 2022, involving the sales of 434,420 cars - 80% of which were sold in the US.
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