The former VW boss Martin Winterkorn is accused of fraud, among other things. He lost his job because of dieselgate but denies knowing about the fraud.
After many and very long delays, the trial finally begins against the former VW boss, Martin Winterkorn.
Winterkorn is on trial for fraud in connection with the so-called dieselgate, which was discovered and started rolling in 2015.
The former chief executive was fired immediately after the case reached the media. And since then, the Volkswagen Group has entered into several settlements for billions in damages due to the fraud.
However, Martin Winterkorn has always denied knowing anything about the fraud, which he claims was carried out single-handedly by a number of rank-and-file employees in the engineering department.
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So far, various settlements and lawsuits have cost the Volkswagen Group almost DKK 200 billion.
– I feel quite well today, the former managing director said smiling to a number of journalists when he arrived at the court, according to the industry magazine Automobil-Industrie .
Winterkorn's defense lawyer states that the former director is innocent of the fraud charges and that his client 'has done nothing wrong'.
Winterkorn is hardly completely innocent. His then chief colleague at Audi, Rupert Stadler, was given a suspended prison sentence and a fine in July last year for pleading guilty to 'damaging fraud'.
Winterkorn himself already entered into a settlement with Volkswagen in 2021. Here, the parties agreed that the former director should pay 11 million euros, equivalent to 82 million kroner, for the damage he had caused to the Volkswagen group.
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