Four Ex-VW managers convicted in Germany over diesel scandal

Berlin - Four former Volkswagen managers were convicted by a German court for their roles in the diesel-emission scandal, involving the manipulation of millions of cars and causing €2.1 billion (S$3.1 billion) in damages to drivers.

Jens Hadler, who led diesel-engine development from 2007 to 2011, was sentenced to 4½ years in prison over the sale of more than two million affected vehicles. Former top engineer Hanno Jelden received two years and seven months in prison for aggravated fraud linked to the sale of nearly three million cars.

After a four-year trial, the Braunschweig Regional Court on May 26 also handed former executive Heinz-Jakob Neusser a suspended sentence of one year and three months for his role in the emissions-cheating scheme, which began after it was discovered that vehicles were fitted with software to sidestep pollution rules. 

Another lower-ranking manager who can be identified only as Thorsten D. got a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months. All had sought acquittals.

Nearly a decade after the “dieselgate” scandal broke, the verdicts are the tribunal’s first in the criminal probe targeting senior staff at VW’s main brand. The men were charged in 2019 with having vehicles equipped with emission-software manipulation in a case that concerned nine million cars sold in Europe and the US. During the trial, the court narrowed the case to fewer than four million vehicles. 

The core of the allegations was that cars were equipped with so-called defeat devices leading to two different sets of emissions, depending in whether the vehicles were tested in the lab or used on the streets, Presiding Judge Christian Schutz said when delivering the verdict. On the streets, in a “real drive” scenario, emissions of toxic nitrogen oxides were much higher than during testing, he said.

The diesel affair sparked global outrage and triggered the departure of VW’s former chief executive Martin Winterkorn from the company in September 2015, just days after US authorities disclosed their investigation. Volkswagen itself had settled the criminal probe in 2018 by paying €1 billion to German prosecutors. 

The scandal has so far cost the carmaker more than €33 billion, including hefty sanctions that were part of a deal with US authorities. The company is still facing civil litigation in its home country, including a €9 billion investor class action.

All sentences were reduced due to the long time the prosecution took. Judge Schutz also stressed that they were not the only ones responsible for the scam and that many others at VW participated. However, all the accused had leading roles and they committed crimes for many years.

While the US has quickly charged and convicted several VW managers, Germany has lagged behind. Rupert Stadler, the former chief executive officer of VW’s Audi unit, was sentenced to a suspended term in 2023, but that verdict is still pending on appeal. Ex-VW chief executive Herbert Diess and VW chairman Hans Dieter Potsch settled a market-manipulation probe in 2020, both agreeing to pay €4.5 million. 

Dozens of probes against other employees were dropped, or they were allowed to settle, and some later testified in the trial, stirring criticism by the current defendants who say they have been singled out and made scapegoats.

“We weren’t part of these decisions, and we wouldn’t have agreed to all of them,” Judge Schutz told the accused at the May 26 hearing.

There are still 31 people indicted in Braunschweig who are waiting to be tried over dieselgate. The next case is scheduled to start in November.

Neusser and Hadler are also among executives charged by the US for their involvement in the scandal. Because Germany does not extradite its own citizens to nations outside the European Union, they have so far escaped prosecutions in the US. BLOOMBERG