Rupert Stadler
Rupert Stadler, the former CEO of Audi, pleaded guilty at his ‘dieselgate’ fraud trial on Tuesday, admitting that he allowed vehicles equipped with emissions-cheating software to remain on the market even after learning of the deception.
The admission before the Munich district court is part of a plea agreement that would allow Stadler, who has been on trial since 2020, to avoid jail time.
Stadler is now the highest-ranking former executive to admit guilt in the ‘dieselgate’ scandal that broke out at Audi’s parent company Volkswagen in 2015.
In a statement, Mr. Stadler’s lawyer Ulrike Thole-Groll told the court, “In the course of addressing the diesel issue after the scandal became public, Stadler neglected to inform business partners that cars with so-called defeat devices were still going on the market”.
Ulrike Thole-Groll argued, “Stadler was accepting that vehicles equipped with the illegal software would go on sale”.
When asked if the remark was correct, Stadler said, “Yes”.
VW, whose subsidiaries include not only Audi but also Porsche, Skoda, and Seat, revealed in September 2015 that it had installed software to manipulate emission levels in 11 million diesel vehicles globally.
In lab tests, the defeat devices made the vehicles appear less polluting than they were on the road.
Stadler, 60, had always denied any misconduct.
However, his defence team stated earlier this month that Stadler had accepted a plea deal that includes a confession in exchange for a suspended sentence of up to two years.
Stalder also agreed to pay of 1.1 million euros ($1.2 million) in cash.
The decision is due in June.
Wolfgang Hatz, another former Audi executive on trial alongside Stadler, pleaded guilty, admitting that he and two other employees had orchestrated the installation of emissions-cheating software.
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