In the Volkswagen emissions scandal, former Audi boss Rupert Stadler has been sentenced to a suspended sentence of one year and nine months. This was announced by the regional court in Munich on Tuesday.
Stadler had maintained his innocence for years before finally confessing in May. The court had made it clear that without a full confession, Stadler faced imprisonment and offered him a deal: confessions and fines in exchange for suspended sentences.
Stadler then had his lawyer read out a statement agreed with the court: the first confession of a former VW board member in the criminal investigation of one of the largest German industrial scandals.
Stadler explained that he saw “that more care was needed”. Although he emphasized that he initially relied on experts, he admitted that he then failed to take further measures and provide clarification. He failed to solve the diesel crisis in the Audi Group. A court spokesman later said that Stadler had “fully admitted” the allegation of fraud by omission.
Stadler was Audi boss from 2007 to 2018. Then came the crash: in 2018 he was held in custody for four months because of the risk of collusion and lost his posts as Audi boss and VW board member.
Unlike his co-defendants, Stadler was not accused in the process of having been involved in the manipulation of exhaust gas values. For him it was about the fact that as Audi boss he had not got to the bottom of the matter sufficiently and had informed the trading partners. Instead, he let the sale of the cars continue until early 2018.