Rupert Stadler, former chief executive of Audi, has been charged with fraud in relation to the Volkswagen emissions scandal in 2015.
German prosecutors said that Stadler and three other people have been charged with fraud, false certification and criminal advertising practices in relation to the scandal.
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“Defendant Stadler is accused of having been aware of the manipulations since the end of September 2015, at the latest, but he did not prevent the sale of affected Audi and VW vehicles thereafter. Vehicles with the engines concerned were subsequently sold in large numbers and placed on the market” the prosecutor said in a statement.
The prosecutor said Stadler’s actions related to around a quarter of a million Audi vehicles, 112,000 Porsches and 72,000 Volkswagen cars that were sold in the US and Europe.
The latest indictment follows that of former VW chief executive Martin Winterkorn, who faced charges of fraud and breach of competition laws.
The carmaker was forced to recall hundreds of thousands of cars globally in 2015 after illegally installing software in diesel engines to bypass strict US anti-pollution tests. The devices, that were designed to perform better when the car was in test conditions, were described as “useless” by the prosecutors.
Aside from failing to inform the authorities of the device, the company “with the knowledge and approval of Winterkorn” then rolled out a software update which was designed solely to cover up the cheating devices, said the statement.
Since the scandal, VW has reportedly paid €28bn (£24bn) in fines, compensation and buyback schemes in the US.
