The Munich District Court had previously offered Stadler the option of pleading guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence, and he will not be sentenced to actual imprisonment.
Stadler already announced at the beginning of May that he was going to plead guilty.
His guilty plea was read at the Munich District Court on Tuesday.
Stadler is not accused of organizing the installation of software to falsify the harmful emission indicators of cars, but he allowed the sale of these cars until the beginning of 2018, even though he knew about the existence of such software.
Stadler admitted that he had the opportunity to intervene, but did not do so. Stadler regrets what he did.
Stadler is the first head of an automotive company to be convicted in the Dieselgate scandal.
He led “Audi” for 11 years until June 2018, when he was arrested. He was released on bail four months later.
As reported, at the end of April, the former high-level manager of the company, Wolfgang Hatz, already admitted his guilt in the “dieselgate” scandal.
Hatz and two of his colleagues had organized the installation of harmful emissions falsifying software in cars equipped with diesel engines.
The trial lasted two-and-a-half years, and Hatz pleaded guilty after the court recommended a reduced sentence in March if he pleaded guilty.
The Dieselgate scandal began in 2015, when the German automotive giant “Volkswagen” admitted that the diesel engines of millions of cars were equipped with secret software that made it possible to get better results in emissions tests.
After that, several other European automotive companies, such as “Daimler”, “Fiat” and “Renault”, were involved in similar scandals.
2023-05-16 08:43:36
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