US: Four Audi officials charged for diesel emissions fraud

In June 2018, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler was arrested by German authorities amidst concerns that he could influence the investigation of the emissions scandal concerning Volkswagen and Audi diesel engines. Now, four Audi executives have been charged and indicted by a grand jury in Detroit for playing a role in the scandal.

Richard Bauder, Axel Eisner, Stefan Knirsch and Carsten Nagel have been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and under violation of the Clean Air Act. The punishment for each these offences is imprisonment of up to 20 years.

Bauder led Audi’s diesel engine development, while Eiser was in charge of engine development division in Ingolstadt. Nagel was Audi’s head of engine registration and testing unit, while Knirsch was head of Audi’s engine development division in Neckarsulm.

In 2015, Volkswagen admitted to cheating in emission tests. The company revealed that it had used devices that could detect when a vehicle was being tested for emissions. In early 2018, former Volkswagen CEO, Martin Winterkorn and 5 others were charged with misleading regulators in relation with the scandal.

Source: Jalopnik