Rupert Stadler looks concentrated as he enters Munich's Palace of Justice on Prielmayerstrasse three quarters of an hour before the start of the trial, a smile playing around his mouth. It could have been his last appearance in freedom for a long time. But the former chairman of the board of management of Audi is ready to make a confession. Almost eight years after the diesel scandal became known and two and a half years after the start of the fraud trial before the Munich II Regional Court, Stadler changed his mind on the 166th day of the trial. His client agrees to the agreement with the court, explains Stadler's lawyer Thilo Pfordte, and the defendant also confirms this briefly.
Henning Peitsmeier
Business correspondent in Munich.
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Christian Müßgens
Business correspondent in Hamburg.
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The location for the showdown in the first major diesel trial could not have been better chosen. It was here, in the large courtroom 134 on the first floor of the neo-baroque courthouse, that Uli Hoeness, the then president of FC Bayern, made his confession nine years ago. Germany's most prominent tax evader subsequently went to jail, and Stadler is spared this fate.
The presiding judge Stefan Weickert and his criminal chamber had already promised him a lenient sentence in March: A suspended prison sentence would only be "considered" if he confessed, Weickert said at the time. The court finds Stadler guilty of allowing the sale of Audi diesel models, even though he knew they were equipped with fraudulent software that turned off the exhaust gas purification on the road. Fraud by omission is the accusation.
The testimony of a co-defendant put Stadler under pressure
Thanks to his late confession, Stadler, who earned up to 8 million euros a year as Audi boss, gets off with a suspended sentence of one and a half to two years and a fine of 1.1 million euros. Comparatively mild sentences are also in prospect for his now confessed ex-management colleague Wolfgang Hatz and the engineer Giovanni P., who has confessed from the beginning. The proceedings against another co-defendant, the key witness Henning L., had previously been discontinued by the chamber against a fine of 25,000 euros.
The fact that Hatz gave up his silence late in the trial put Stadler under pressure. The 64-year-old engine developer had admitted a week ago that he had "initiated" the development of the fraudulent software invented at Audi, even though it violated laws. Could Hatz, who was once responsible for engine development throughout the VW Group and later also be a member of the Porsche board, really was the only top manager who knew about the fraud? It is not only the public prosecutor's office that considers this to be implausible.
Stadler was Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi for almost eleven years. In 2018, he spent four and a half months in custody on charges of wanting to obstruct the investigation into the emissions scandal, after which he was out of his post. Due to negligent breaches of duty in connection with the "diesel issue", as VW stubbornly calls the emissions fraud, Stadler paid 4.1 million euros in damages to the group. Europe's largest car manufacturer agreed with former VW boss Martin Winterkorn on a payment of 11.2 million euros. The emissions scandal cost VW a total of more than 30 billion euros in fines and compensation payments for deceived customers.