Ex-Audi CEO Admits Dieselgate Guilt to Avoid Jail

It has been eight years since the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) discovered Volkswagen 's manipulation of polluting emissions , known as Dieselgate . Despite this, the scandal continues to be talked about.

From time to time, Dieselgate surfaces in the news, mainly due to court rulings. This time it's following the admission of guilt by Rupert Stadler , the former CEO of Audi , who has been in the spotlight for years and has just admitted responsibility for Dieselgate.

The confession is part of a deal with the judge

Despite the fact that Volkswagen's Dieselgate scandal broke almost ten years ago and the brand suffered considerable financial losses, the courts have not forgotten this affair which remains one of the biggest scandals in the world. automotive history.

German justice is still pursuing those responsible for this case, but these are not proceedings against Volkswagen, but against some of its former leaders. Among them is Rupert Stadler , who was arrested in 2018 for his alleged role in the scandal while CEO of Audi .

Shortly after his arrest, Volkswagen terminated Rupert Stadler's contract, and a few weeks later he was released on bail. However, in 2020 a court in Munich began trying him for his involvement in the case.

Stadler served as CEO of Audi between 2007 and 2018.

According to German news agency DPA, three years later Stadler reached a plea deal with the judge to avoid jail time by accepting responsibility for Dieselgate.

As part of this agreement, Stadler must pay 1.1 million euros , in addition to the 4.1 million he had already been sentenced to pay in 2021. This latest sentence was linked to the fact that he had no not ensured, as of September 21, 2016, that the 3.0-litre and 4.2-litre diesel engines developed by Audi did not contain illegal software, once their existence was revealed.

Despite this, until now German officials have always claimed that they were unaware of the manipulation of emissions of thousands of cars by the Volkswagen Group using software between 2009 and 2015, including some models of the brand of which Stadler was the top manager from January 2007 to September 2018.