Munich prosecutors charged former Audi Chief Executive Officer Rupert Stadler with fraud and other offenses as part of an investigation stemming from parent Volkswagen AG’s cheating on diesel emissions.
Stadler, who was charged alongside three others, was detained for months last year after concerns he had tampered with a witness. Prosecutors are accusing the executive of knowing about the deliberate diesel-engine rigging by September 2015 at Audi and the VW brand, and didn’t prevent vehicle sales.
Since the diesel scandal was uncovered nearly four years ago, Volkswagen keeps getting dragged back into its biggest corporate crisis. Allegations have been swirling ever since about who knew what when within VW’s top brass about to the manipulation of as many as 11 million diesel cars worldwide.
In April, Braunschweig prosecutors charged former Volkswagen head Martin Winterkorn with serious fraud in Germany for his role in the diesel-rigging scandal that has so far cost the carmaker about 30 billion euros ($33 billion).
(Bloomberg)
