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Former Audi boss Rupert Stadler has made serious allegations against the Munich public prosecutor and against former Audi engine developers in the process of manipulated diesel emissions.

At the same time, he admitted his “corporate policy responsibility” for the damage caused by the diesel scandal: “I personally blame myself for not having succeeded in preventing this damage,” said Stadler on Tuesday when he gave his first personal testimony to the regional court Munich.

There was a lack of awareness of injustice among engine developers.

“Camouflaging and deceiving has long been part of a work culture, perhaps also a culture of fear,” criticized Stadler.

If they had already "let their pants down" in autumn 2015 and revealed their knowledge, Audi would have been spared a lot.

Unfortunately, despite the dismissal of their bosses, an amnesty program and calls for clarification, the technicians had remained silent.

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Stadler was annoyed about the way the Munich public prosecutor's office dealt with his person.

“The public prosecutor's office does not have the right to deliberately treat me worse than other participants in the proceedings”.

He expects "fair and absolutely neutral treatment," demanded the ex-Audi boss.

He does not want to be politically instrumentalized and abused in the process “as a figurehead”.

The indictment accuses Stadler of having at least considered it possible from September 2015 that diesel cars with improved emissions were also sold in Europe.

Nevertheless, Stadler let production and sales continue for a good year in order not to endanger the sales of the VW subsidiary.

Stadler firmly rejected this.

After the US environment agency uncovered the diesel scandal involving VW four-cylinder engines in September 2015, the head of development for the Audi six-cylinder diesel assured the Audi board that “the V6 TDI has no test stand detection”.

He emphasized that “the principle of role equals road applies”.

The shock was all the greater when the US authorities also accused the V6 engine of illegal software in November 2015.

As a result, sales were discontinued and senior engine developers were given leave of absence.

Cars with excessive emissions were still sold until 2018

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Technicians had further assured the board of directors that “the six-cylinder diesel complies with the European approval requirements”.

Because this has a completely different warm-up function than that in the USA.

Audi agreed with the Federal Motor Transport Authority for voluntary service activities to exchange software.

But by January 2018, 120,000 cars with excessive nitrogen oxide emissions had been sold in Europe.

The indictment accuses Stadler of fraud against car buyers, criminal advertising and indirect false certification with registration authorities because of these vehicles.

Together with Stadler, the former head of Audi engine and Porsche chief technology officer Wolfgang Hatz and two senior engineers are on trial.

Your accusation weighs heavier: from 2008 you are said to have manipulated more than 400,000 diesel engines so that they pass emissions tests but emit more nitrogen oxides on the road.

He never saw most of his emails, says Stadler

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Stadler presented to the Munich Regional Court for an hour what he had been thinking about as Audi CEO and VW board member.

He described his work processes in detail.

His secretariat received up to 200 e-mails a day, most of which he had never seen.

In his office in Ingolstadt he was at best a few hours a week.

A year, he would have received a maximum of ten “blue reports” about problems personally.

He has no recollection that he himself dealt with the problem of exhaust gas purification at the “damage table”.

According to the files, the district court has so far assumed that Stadler's fraud against car buyers was not due to active action, but rather to failure.

The lawyer of the accused engineer Giovanni P. accused the court of continuing the process despite the corona pandemic, being irresponsible and dangerous.

It should no longer take place like this.

The presiding judge said the hall in the Stadelheim correctional facility met all requirements.