Martin Winterkorn believes that his strategic responsibilities had kept him away from technical issues.
Former Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn, on trial in the unprecedented “dieselgate” scandal, said on Wednesday that the accusations against him in this fraud involving rigged engines were “inconceivable”, explaining that his strategic responsibilities had kept him away from technical issues.
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“Criminal charges against me, as the prosecution (…) is trying to do, are inconceivable,” the former disgraced CEO said in conclusion of a statement read on the second day of his trial before the German courts, where he risks a prison sentence.
In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted to having rigged a total of 11 million cars to display levels of nitrogen oxide pollution that were far below reality. Martin Winterkorn was forced to resign as a result.
Although he admits to having been “closely linked” to Dieselgate through his management functions, the 77-year-old former boss assures that he was “not involved in the decisions concerning the development and use of an irregular software function on VW’s new diesel engines”.
“I am not a computer specialist”
He explained that his role focused on “strategic decisions” about the direction of the group, its brands and products, with his colleagues in management. He clarified that it was not up to him to deal with “technical challenges”.
“I’m not a computer scientist and there’s nothing to do with software anyway,” said the boss, who is best known for inspecting engine details and other visible parts of vehicles with his pen torch during his visits to car show stands.
Internally, technicians “assured me that they were working intensively on the problem of reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.” However, he said he had not received any written report “on any software function, even critical from a legal point of view.”
Similarly, he stated that he would never have accepted that customers be deceived when buying or selling a rigged vehicle, nor did he keep shareholders in ignorance of the risks, as the prosecution will on the contrary try to demonstrate.
Parts of his lengthy statement were read out by his lawyers. Weakened after several surgeries, Martin Winterkorn has benefited from several postponements of his trial, which is being held nine years after the scandal was revealed and is scheduled to last a year.
