Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn on trial over diesel cars rigged to cheat emissions tests

FRANKFURT, Germany — Former Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn went on trial Tuesday on charges of fraud and market manipulation in connection with the scandal over Volkswagen’s use of rigged software that allowed millions of cars to cheat emissions tests and emit high levels of harmful pollutants.

Prosecutors say Winterkorn knew about the illegal software long before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its discovery of the breach in September 2015. He resigned days later.

He said he was informed of the practice shortly before the announcement and has already testified in civil proceedings that the allegations against him “were not correct.”

Winterkorn’s lawyer, Felix Doerr, said Tuesday before the trial in Brunswick that “our client definitively rejects the accusations against him.” He said Winterkorn’s position as CEO did not justify holding him responsible for the entire scandal.

Winterkorn, 77, was due to stand trial in 2021 along with four other VW executives, but his trial was postponed due to health concerns.

The diesel scandal has had a severe impact on the company and the auto industry. Volkswagen has had to pay more than 31 billion euros ($34 billion) in fines and legal damages. Sales of diesel cars, once favored over gasoline vehicles for their fuel efficiency, have plummeted as a share of the European auto market.

Winterkorn faces three separate charges: defrauding car buyers by selling the cars with illegal software, manipulating the stock market by failing to disclose required information to investors and making false statements to a parliamentary inquiry committee in 2017. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Hearings in the complex case are scheduled to last through September 2025. The fraud indictment alone runs to 692 pages, including the four other defendants, while the case file runs to 300 volumes with 75,000 pages of supporting documents.

In their indictment, prosecutors said Winterkorn knew about the problem at least in May 2014, but continued to allow the practice and allow the sale of rigged cars. They said the software had already appeared in Volkswagen cars in Europe and the United States in 2006.

The software increased emissions levels during testing and then decreased them during everyday driving, causing the cars to emit higher levels of nitrogen oxide than permitted. Nitrogen oxide can irritate the airways and contribute to the development of asthma.