On Tuesday, the Braunschweig Regional Court started criminal proceedings against three former Volkswagen personnel managers and one incumbent on the grounds of alleged breach of trust in the determination of works council salaries.
It's about remuneration and bonuses for senior employee representatives such as ex-group works council chief Bernd Osterloh.
According to the public prosecutor's office, these are said to have been approved for years in excessive amounts and not covered by law.
This is how VW suffered millions in damage.
For some observers, the suspicion of “bought” loyalty also resonates.
Former board members in the dock
The two former HR directors Karlheinz Blessing and Horst Neumann are among the indicted.
The allegedly excessive pay had unlawfully benefited five senior works council members - also in relation to other colleagues in corresponding comparison groups.
The defense attorneys had already denied the prosecutors' allegations before the main hearing began.
"Works council members may by law neither be favored nor disadvantaged because of their position," said the spokesman for the regional court, Stefan Bauer-Schade.
“That's why you have to form comparison groups for salaries.
The prosecution accuses the defendants of having wrongly set these comparison groups too well for the works council members. ”In the event of a conviction, a prison sentence of six months to ten years is provided for infidelity in the particularly serious case.
Defense attorneys point to unclear standards
The proceedings began in the Braunschweig town hall with the reading of the extensive indictment.
In a total of 26 individual offenses, the defendants "abused their authority to dispose of someone else's property," said public prosecutor Sonja Walther.
The excessive works council remuneration would have "caused a large loss of wealth" at VW.
From a legal point of view, however, it is controversial how well senior works councils can be paid.
The defense argues, for example, that the Works Constitution Act, which has not been consistently reformed for decades, does not offer any clear standards in this regard.