MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - The Munich public prosecutor's office has filed an appeal against the suspended sentence for the former head of Audi engine development, Wolfgang Hatz. This was announced by Behorde on Tuesday. The suspended sentences for former CEO Rupert Stadler and an engineer, on the other hand, are final: In their case, the public prosecutor's office accepts the verdict of the Munich Regional Court, said public prosecutor Matthias Enzler.
The Economic Criminal Chamber had sentenced Hatz a week ago to two years' imprisonment on probation and to pay 400,000 euros. The long-time head of engine development at Audi and later Porsche board member had confessed to manipulating exhaust gas control in large diesel engines. He arranged for the software to be designed so that the nitrogen oxide limits were complied with on the test bench, but no longer on the road. This saved the automakers from having to retrofit larger Adblue tanks for exhaust gas purification. The prosecution had demanded a prison sentence of three years and two months for the 64-year-old. Hatz had served nine months in pre-trial detention in Stadelheim until June 2018.
Stadler had been sentenced to one year and nine months' imprisonment suspended for fraud by omission and payment of 1.1 million euros. He had not instigated the manipulations, but had stopped the sale of the cars in Germany far too late. In his case, the public prosecutor had already agreed to the suspended sentence at trial./rol/DP/ngu
