In the so-called diesel trial in Braunschweig, the lines of conflict between the defendants became apparent on the second day of the trial. More heavily than expected, one of the accused, engineer D., incriminated the former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn and another ex-VW board member: as early as 2012, he told the then head of development of the Volkswagen core brand about his concerns about the one used in the USA Informed deception software, said the exhaust gas aftertreatment expert on Tuesday in front of the Braunschweig regional court. But unsuccessful: “He sent me away with the request to destroy the documents.” The former top manager addressed is also one of the defendants in the proceedings.
In the mammoth case, the court wants to find out who ordered and implemented the diesel car fraud and when, which is considered to be one of the biggest industrial scandals in the republic: At least between 2007 and 2015, Volkswagen and its sister brands sold vehicles that were much more expensive due to software manipulation on the street Exhaust gases emitted than on the test benches. The Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office assumes nine million illegally manipulated cars and is pursuing around 100 suspects; four engineers are currently on trial in this first trial. The accusation: commercial and gang fraud.
Just a shadow: Ex-VW boss Martin Winterkorn.
(Photo: Jens Meyer / AP)
In relation to Winterkorn’s role in 2015, when the manipulations in the USA were about to be exposed, engineer D .: “Knowing all the facts”, the CEO decided to send his VW colleague Oliver Schmidt to the USA to investigate the cause of the falsified ones To further disguise emission values. Schmidt was arrested and sentenced in the United States.
Stage directions “to further mislead the authorities”
According to the defendant, he himself had received appropriate “stage directions” from the management – “with the task of further misleading the authorities. I did not adhere to that,” said D., according to the news agency dpa in court. He finally admitted the use of the manipulation software. “In doing so, I defied my superiors’ instructions and told the authorities the truth.”
In retrospect, he assumed “responsibility for the fact that I did not manage to get out of this project in time,” emphasized the defendant, who was listed as a key witness by the US authorities. In the current proceedings in Germany, D. is the lowest-ranking of the defendants, and he referred to this in his first statement: “I find it unfair that I am sitting in the investment bank with the gentlemen whom I warned. (…) It is so that the main responsible Dr. Winterkorn is spared. “
The part of the proceedings against Winterkorn was initially separated and postponed because of a hip operation by the former CEO. The judiciary wants to decide by the end of the month whether Winterkorn does not have to appear at this trial after all, as the public prosecutor is calling for. In this case, however, the negotiation would have to start all over again.