In the Audi trial, the public prosecutor’s office demanded two prison sentences with and one without probation. On Tuesday in Munich, prosecutor Nico Petzka pleaded for two years’ probation and payment of 1.1 million euros for the former boss of the car manufacturer, Rupert Stadler. For the former head of engine development, Wolfgang Hatz, he demanded three years and two months in prison without probation, for an engineer who was also accused, two years on probation and 50,000 euros.
At the beginning of his plea, Petzka said that he did not see the accused as primarily responsible for the diesel scandal. It is “doubtful at all” whether in such a complex structure there could even be one or more persons primarily responsible from a criminal point of view, “when so many people involved in the company are going in the wrong direction”. This must also be kept in mind when assessing criminal law. On the other hand, Petzka emphasized the high damage and the “massive environmental mess” caused by the scandal.
The trial revolves around manipulated exhaust systems on diesel vehicles. Hatz and the engineer are accused of involvement in it. At Stadler, on the other hand, the accusation is only that the sale of the vehicles in Germany was not stopped in time.
Defendants confess
Each of the original four defendants made a confession during the trial, which has been dragging on since autumn 2020. The proceedings against one of them have already been discontinued for a fee, and before the confessions were made between Stadler and the engineer, there were agreements between the accused, the court and the public prosecutor’s office on the sentence.
Stadler was about one and a half to two years of probation and a monetary requirement of 1.1 million euros. The former Audi boss had previously protested his innocence. Only in the spring, after the court indicated that he could face imprisonment, did he change his position and admit the allegations.
In the case of Hatz, the public prosecutor’s office had rejected an agreement sought by the court, which should also include probation in return for a confession. Petzka said on Tuesday that this would have been “too moderate”. His demand was correspondingly higher.
What exactly are the defendants accused of?
In detail, the public prosecutor’s office accuses Stadler of having allowed 26,546 defective vehicles to be sold in Germany between December 19, 2015 and November 30, 2017 – with damage of 69 million euros. However, the court had named a shorter period in its reference to Stadler and Stadler only conceded this.
In the case of the co-defendants Hatz and the engineer, the allegation covers a total of 94,924 cars in Germany and the USA in the period from the end of 2008 to November 2015 with damage of 2.2 billion euros. It is so much higher because the public prosecutor’s office only uses scrap value for the 66,026 US vehicles.
