USA: Judge denies bail to VW executive Oliver Schmidt

Oliver Schmidt, the former Volkswagen Executive who is currently in American custody under an investigation regarding the infamous emission scandal, has been denied bail by a US Judge. Schmidt was arrested by F.B.I on Sunday, January 8th, when he was returning to Germany after a family vacation in Florida.

Oliver Schmidt was the General Manager of a Volkswagen environmental engineering office in Michigan from 2012 to 2015. He is accused of playing a key role in deceiving US regulators to deliberately sell around 600,000 VW cars that weren't compliant with US emission norms. He is also said to have deleted important documents related to the investigation, despite the company asking him to preserve all documents.

After getting arrested, Schmidt filed for a bail, which was denied as the prosecutors convinced the Judge that if Schmidt is set free, he will fly back to Germany. And since US doesn't have any extradition treaty with Germany, it would be impossible to arrest him again.

Media reports suggest that Schmidt will undergo trial for 11 charges. If he receives maximum penalty for each felony, he could face upto 169 years in prison. Schmidt is one of the 6 VW executives who have been indicted by the F.B.I. However, except him, other executives are currently in Germany and are thus far from the reach of US officials.

Source: WXYZ