Paris (AFP)

Renault Tuesday, Volkswagen Wednesday, other manufacturers soon?

The German automobile giant by which came the scandal of the "dieselgate" announced in turn to have been indicted for "deception", marking an acceleration of this long encysted file.

In the aftermath of Renault's announcement of its indictment, the German automobile giant, which denies "any damage" to French consumers, announced in a press release on Wednesday its implication in this resounding scandal, confirming a information from Europe 1.

A judicial source confirmed to AFP the indictment of Volkswagen on May 6 for "deception on the substantial qualities of a commodity causing a danger to the health of humans or animals".

According to this judicial source, Volkswagen was placed "under judicial supervision with the obligation to post a bond in the amount of 10 million euros and the obligation to provide security in the form of a bank guarantee in the amount of 60 million euros" .

The dieselgate, which has given rise to legal actions in many countries, has already cost Volkswagen 30 billion euros, largely in the United States where the German group pleaded guilty to fraud in 2017.

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Volkswagen admitted in the fall of 2015 that it had equipped 11 million of its diesel vehicles with software capable of concealing emissions that sometimes exceed 40 times the authorized standards.

- Other mis en cause -

Investigations into this scandal have long been slowed down by a legal battle before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) which finally confirmed the illegality of Volkswagen's software at the end of 2020.

In France, investigations by the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) had highlighted Volkswagen's "intentional nature of fraud".

The gendarme of Bercy noted, in a report of February 11, 2016 of which AFP was aware, that nearly 950,000 diesel vehicles, equipped with the fraudulent device, had been sold by the German group on French territory.

"The fraudulent turnover (...) amounts to 22.78 billion euros", with "a fraudulent saving of 1.52 billion euros per year on average between 2012 and 2014", of after the DGCCRF.

But the company disputes any guilt in this case and believes that after having already paid in Germany in 2018 a "fine of one billion euros for allegedly identical facts", a "double conviction (...) should be prohibited. " in France.

"For Volkswagen AG, the facts examined by the French courts are included and identical to those already decided in Germany, but the investigating judges told us that, according to them, it was necessary to continue the investigations before deciding definitively on this subject" , declared Me Nicolas Huc-Morel, lawyer of the constructor, to AFP.

The company has already challenged this analysis of the magistrates before the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal.

His appeal is awaiting examination.

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"All the elements seem to confirm the infringements committed by the various manufacturers. The owners of injured vehicles do not understand that there is not a trial as quickly as possible" reacted Me François Lafforgue, lawyer of the associations "Ecologie sans frontières "," Breathe "and a hundred vehicle owners.

The "dieselgate" scandal is the subject of various legal information in France.

The one concerning Volkswagen has been open since February 16, 2016.

Two other manufacturers, PSA (Peugeot-Citroën) and Fiat-Chrysler, now married in the Stellantis group, are likely to be indicted in their turn in France and should be questioned very soon, according to concordant sources.

The indictment is a preliminary step to a possible trial in France and to compensation for vehicle owners, the value of which fell sharply after the scandal broke in September 2015.

© 2021 AFP