2023-05-15 22:43:54
EA confession in court must not only be complete, but also credible. But what is a confession worth at the very end of a two and a half year criminal trial? In the case of the accused Rupert Stadler, quite a lot. In the first major diesel fraud trial before the Munich II Regional Court, the former Audi boss long denied any involvement in the machinations of his engineers, only to change his mind on the 166th day of the trial.
Engine developer Wolfgang Hatz, who was also accused, had previously confessed that software was used in the cars to deceive environmental authorities and customers about the actual emissions of harmful nitrogen dioxide.
Early on in the trial, the court found Stadler’s claim that only a small circle of a few engineers had caused one of the biggest German industrial scandals without the knowledge of the board of directors to be credible. But it was only when the presiding judge, Stefan Weickert, threatened imprisonment that the defense began to move. Those involved in the trial negotiated a possible sentence behind closed doors.
Criminal record but free
Such an understanding serves to bring criminal proceedings to an end in a resource-saving and efficient manner. And the more complex white-collar criminal proceedings are, the more judges tend to make these deals instead of making proper judgments in the sense of finding the truth.
In Munich, the court offered the defendant a deal that he could hardly refuse. Stadler’s promise to admit guilt will spare him jail. Although he has a criminal record, he remains at large. The financial burden of 1.1 million euros is easy to cope with for a top earner like the former Audi top manager, who regularly collects annual salaries of seven million euros and more. The diesel scandal cost the VW group more than 30 billion euros in fines and the entire German auto industry its reputation.
A climate of fear
And so this deal in Munich is certainly likely to cause serious damage to the people’s sense of justice – true to the old saying “You hang the little ones and let the big ones go”.
Stadler is the most prominent defendant in the ongoing diesel criminal proceedings in Germany. His sponsor, longtime VW boss Martin Winterkorn, has also been charged, but his case before the Braunschweig Regional Court is on hold due to illness. With Winterkorn’s resignation in autumn 2015, the dirty diesel scandal picked up speed. But almost eight years later, the criminal offenses have still not been properly dealt with legally.
How difficult it is for the judiciary to appear before the Braunschweig Regional Court. There, in the middle of the VW state of Lower Saxony, four car managers are currently on trial. Here, too, the diesel investigations are spreading, witnesses are being questioned and experts are being heard. At its peak, more than 100 suspects were investigated and charges were brought against 34 people in four proceedings. Again and again, prosecutors reach their limits. And so the criminal proceedings against the former VW board members Herbert Diess and Hans Dieter Pötsch were stopped for a monetary condition.
Raised in the command-obedience system
Former VW CEO Winterkorn continues to reject the allegations of fraud against him. After all, the taking of evidence in Munich threw a spotlight on the network of relationships between the top managers of Europe’s largest car manufacturer. Over the decades, the late VW patriarch Ferdinand Piëch has spun a dense web of mutual dependencies across the giant corporation. Winterkorn was his favorite for a long time.
The command-obedience system he established is legendary. It became the control principle in Wolfsburg and Ingolstadt. A climate of fear prevailed in the Volkswagen Group. No subaltern dared to contradict. The defendants Hatz and Stadler grew up in this system. Stadler began his career as Piëch’s office manager, Hatz was a close confidant of Winterkorn, followed him from Audi to VW and was later rewarded with a board position at Porsche. It was in this culture that “Dieselgate” was able to thrive.
Winterkorn will be 76 years old in a few days. If the judiciary in Braunschweig manages to put the most important protagonist in this industrial scandal on trial, then the Munich confessions were worth something.
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