Ex-Volkswagen CEO goes on trial over 'dieselgate'
The Peninsula
Braunschweig, Germany: Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn went on trial Tuesday for his role in the dieselgate scandal, nine years after the sa...
Braunschweig, Germany: Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn went on trial Tuesday for his role in the "dieselgate" scandal, nine years after the saga first plunged the German auto titan into crisis.
VW admitted in 2015 that it had installed software to rig emissions levels in millions of vehicles worldwide, setting off one of Germany's biggest post-war industrial scandals.
Winterkorn faces charges including fraud over the use of the so-called defeat devices, which made cars appear less polluting in lab tests than they were on the road, and could be jailed for up to 10 years if convicted.
He resigned as head of the VW group -- whose brands range from Porsche and Audi to Skoda and Seat -- shortly after the crisis began but attempts to bring him to trial had so far failed.
Now 77, he was supposed to stand trial in 2021 alongside four other VW executives but proceedings against him were split off and postponed due to his poor health.
