Exclusive
Status: 08/25/2021 5:55 p.m.
The former VW boss Winterkorn urgently needs an operation. The Regional Court of Braunschweig therefore apparently wants to start the process of suspected fraud without him. This could mean that Winterkorn will not go to court until 2024.
The regional court of Braunschweig plans according to information from NDR and “Süddeutscher Zeitung”, to begin the process planned for September to deal with the VW diesel affair without Martin Winterkorn. The proceedings of the former VW boss should therefore be separated from the other four defendants. The court informed all those involved in the process of this intention on Tuesday evening. The trial against Winterkorn would not begin until the trial against the other defendants had ended.
The background to the considerations is the state of health of the former VW boss. Winterkorn urgently needs to be operated on on the hip, otherwise – according to an expert report – there is a risk of irreparable damage. This operation is scheduled for the beginning of September, a few days before the previously planned start of the process on September 16. Winterkorn can therefore initially not participate in the proceedings because of suspected fraud in the emissions affair.
Winterkorn will probably go to court in 2024 at the earliest
Since the first pending trial against four other VW managers is expected to last at least two years, i.e. an end would only be in sight in autumn 2023, that would mean: Winterkorn would probably not come to court until 2024 at the earliest, almost ten years after being exposed one of the biggest industrial scandals in Germany.
Winterkorn’s lawyers and the other four defendants and the Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office now have until September 3 to comment on the court’s plans.
It is already foreseeable that opinions will differ widely. Initial, unofficial reactions from those affected and those familiar with the procedure range from “understandable” to “unacceptable” or even “outrageous”. One thing is clear, however: A first trial of the VW emissions scandal without the ex-CEO in the dock would have the flaw that the responsibility of the top management for the industrial scandal would remain criminally unresolved for a long time – despite the immense extent of the affair, VW cost more than 30 billion euros.
Unclear when Winterkorn would be able to negotiate
During Winterkorn’s tenure as CEO, Volkswagen sold diesel vehicles in which the emission control system had been manipulated to millions of customers – hence the charge of fraud. For Winterkorn himself, however, it is not about millions of vehicles, but only about 65,000 cars, because he only found out about the manipulations late, but then did not turn them off. The ex-CEO denies all allegations.
In principle, it all depends on when Winterkorn would be able to negotiate again after his hip operation. But that is exactly what should not be foreseeable. The regional court of Braunschweig has several reports on the state of health of the ex-CEO, including a current assessment by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich commissioned by the court itself.
The LMU confirms the information provided by Winterkorn’s doctors. His hips are or were severely damaged. The ex-VW boss already had one hip operated, which required two operations. Winterkorn has since recovered from this. Now the second hip is due, which cannot be delayed and makes it impossible to start the process against him quickly.
The court apparently wants to avoid further delay
The Braunschweig Regional Court had already had to postpone the process twice because of the corona pandemic, now apparently wants to avoid another postponement and therefore start the process without winter grain. On the other hand, if Winterkorn’s trial was postponed for years, the case could arise that the former VW boss would no longer come to court. Winterkorn is already 74 years old and is not in the best of health.
The public prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig is unlikely to be pleased about the intention to separate Winterkorn’s case, of all people. You could raise an objection and file a complaint with the Higher Regional Court of Braunschweig. The public prosecutor’s office did not want to comment on this.