A week ago, ex-Audi boss Stadler and his co-defendants were sentenced to probation and fines. Now everyone appealed against it. The public prosecutor’s office is also contesting one of the verdicts.
The trial against Audi managers for emissions manipulation is entering the second round. The former CEO of the car manufacturer, Rupert Stadler, and his two co-defendants have appealed the judgments of the Munich Regional Court, the court announced.
The actions of the three men are unexpected because the suspended sentences and fines were based on agreements between them and the court. As expected, the public prosecutor’s office only appealed against the suspended sentence for the former Audi engine boss and later Porsche board member Wolfgang Hatz. The prosecutors had demanded a prison sentence without parole for him and thus opposed the agreement between the court and Hatz.
Three suspended sentences and fines
Stadler was sentenced to a suspended sentence of one year and nine months for fraud after a deal was made a week ago. In addition, he should pay 1.1 million euros. He had previously confessed to allegations of fraud. He was accused of knowing about the exhaust gas manipulations but not taking any action to stop the sale of manipulated diesel cars.
After the verdict was announced, Stadler’s lawyer Thilo Pfordte expressed his satisfaction that his client was spared a prison sentence.
The former Audi engine boss Hatz was sentenced to two years probation and a fine of 400,000 euros. The public prosecutor had demanded a prison sentence of three years and two months for the 64-year-old. In the course of the proceedings, Hatz confessed to having arranged for the installation of the control software together with the engineer Giovanni P. Like Stadler, P. received a suspended sentence of one year and nine months and a fine of 50,000 euros.
written Judgment reasoning until April 2024
The appeal had to be filed within one week after the verdict was announced, but can be revoked at any time. The Criminal Court has until April 9, 2024 to state the reasons for the verdict in writing. After the judgment was served, the defense attorneys and the public prosecutor’s office have the opportunity to justify the appeal, as court spokesman Laurent Lafleur said. Only then are the files submitted to the Federal Court of Justice for a decision.
According to the dpa news agency, P.’s lawyers said they had appealed for purely formal reasons to meet the deadline. Her client basically agrees with the verdict and can live with it.