Ex-Audi Head Rupert Stadler Handed Suspended Jail Sentence In Dieselgate Scandal

Former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler has been handed a suspended jail sentence by a German court over the now-infamous Dieselgate scandal. The court charged Stadler with fraud by negligence before handing him a suspended one-year and nine-month jail sentence and a fine of 1.1 million euros (Rs 9.88 crore approx).

Stadler was put on trial in 2020 for his role in the Dieselgate scandal that rocked the VW Group in 2015. Stadler at the time had been Audi’s CEO for a little less than half a decade, and was accused of knowing about the issue but failing to stop or address it. Stadler in his defense had till now insisted that he had no knowledge of the matter. Stadler had been arrested on grounds of his role in the scandal in 2018.

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In 2015, it was discovered that some of VW's diesel engines were equipped with cheat devices to pass emissions tests.

The Dieselgate scandal first emerged in 2015 when it was discovered that many VW diesel cars sold in USA were installed with “defeat devices” or software that allowed vehicles to cheat at emission tests. The discovery, made by the US EPA, would turn into a public scandal after the VW Group admitted to the use of defeat devices in over 11 million vehicles worldwide affected.

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VW’s legal turmoil would see the Group spend billions in legal fees and fines in North America though legal disputes in some European countries continue to run to this date. Stadler is the latest person from the VW Group to be handed a suspended sentence.

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Former Audi executive Wolfgang Hatz, head of engine development in 2015, was earlier in the year handed a suspended two-year jail sentence and a fine with an engineer also being handed a suspended sentence, along with a fine.