Fraud case against former Volkswagen CEO set to resume

A German court on Thursday said it would resume the trial of former Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn for market manipulation, due to the indefinite suspension of parallel proceedings on fraud charges.

Case initially suspended

Winterkorn was set to be tried for fraud for his role in the “dieselgate” emissions-cheating scandal, along with other managers from the automotive group.

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But the trial in Brunswick, close to Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, began in September 2021 without the former boss, who was deemed too unwell to appear in court following an operation.

The same Brunswick court had provisionally dropped a market manipulation case in January 2021 on the basis that the likely punishment was negligible compared with the potential fraud penalty.

Reopening a must

But the court on Thursday said proceedings had been revived at the request of the Brunswick public prosecutor’s office because “it has not yet been possible to try the defendant” on the fraud charges.

The outcome of the market manipulation case could also “have an impact” on the fraud proceedings in addition to any possible punishment, the court said.

Under the reinstated charges, Winterkorn is accused of having intentionally failed to inform financial markets in time of the risk of a fine due to emissions-cheating vehicles on the US market.

A date for the opening of the market manipulation trial had not yet been set, the court said.

The Volkswagen group was plunged into crisis in 2015 when it admitted to installing cheating software in millions of diesel vehicles worldwide to dupe pollution tests.

The first senior executive to be convicted over dieselgate was Rupert Stadler, former CEO of subsidiary Audi, who received a suspended sentence and a fine earlier this year on fraud charges.

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