The trial into the “dieselgate” emissions scandal, which plunged Volkswagen into disrepute nine years ago, has opened with the German carmaker’s former chief executive appearing in the dock for the first time.
Volkswagen, widely viewed as a symbol of German economic success and technical prowess, was found to have falsified emissions tests that made its vehicles appear considerably more climate-friendly than they really were.
Martin Winterkorn, who led VW for eight years until his dismissal in 2015 days after the rigging of software in millions of cars came to light, faces a range of charges in the trial in Braunschweig, northern Germany, all of which he denies.
The 77-year-old is accused of being aware of the rigging long before it was made public, supporting the manipulation, turning a blind eye to dealing with it and trying to cover it up.
The scandal, the most damaging in the company’s 87-year history, is being played out in court in the same week that the manufacturer announced at its Wolfsburg headquarters that it is contemplating the first factory closures in its home country, which could lead to the loss of thousands of jobs.
The carmaker is seeking cost savings of billions of euros to deal with a mounting profit crisis, caused by its slowness to shift away from fossil fuels as well as its payouts in compensation over the emissions scandal, estimated to total €30bn (£25bn) worldwide.
The hearings will constitute one of the most prominent industrial trials in modern German history, with the criminal case against Winterkorn having been built up over more than five years.
The former CEO, whose poor health had cast doubt over whether his trial could go ahead, appeared solemn and uncommunicative as he entered court in Braunschweig on Tuesday morning. Wearing a navy blue suit, he told reporters and photographers he was “doing very well”.
According to a 600-page long indictment, he faces a range of charges, including fraud and market manipulation as well as providing illegal false testimony before a 2017 parliamentary committee into the dieselgate affair, which rattled markets and was deemed to have damaged Germany’s longstanding international reputation for high quality products.
Winterkorn is also accused of having neglected to inform capital markets in a timely fashion about the mass manipulation of diesel engine data.
His lawyer, Felix Dörr, told the court: “Our client did not defraud or harm anyone. He did not deliberately leave the capital markets in the dark so that investors would be damaged, and he told the investigating committee the truth.”
The scandal came to light after US scientists declared in autumn 2015 that many of VW’s diesel engine cars had been equipped with software meant to deliberately falsify emissions tests.
An estimated 9m vehicles around the world were affected by the alleged misconduct, leading to car owners facing costs that collectively ran into hundreds of millions of euros.
Winterkorn faces a fine or custodial sentence if he is found guilty. The trial is scheduled to last for about nine months.
Owing to his ill health, a trial in which Winterkorn was meant to appear in the same courtroom alongside four other former VW executives and engineers in 2021, went ahead without him. The charges were eventually dropped after the company agreed to pay a fine of €9m.
