German court says VW's Winterkorn to be tried again on defeat devices

In the emissions scandal triggered by Volkswagen's manipulation of diesel engines, a German court has decided that former chief executive Martin Winterkorn must again stand trial.

The Braunschweig Regional Court reopened the proceedings on suspicion of market manipulation, it said on Thursday.

But when the trial will take place has not been disclosed.

In the indictment filed by the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office in September 2019, the defendant is accused of failing to inform the capital market in good time about the installation of an unauthorized defeat device in diesel engines.

The proceedings against Winterkorn were provisionally suspended at the beginning of January 2021 due to illness and have now been resumed at the request of the public prosecutor's office.

The so-called "Dieselgate" scandal rocked the top echelons of Volkswagen and its subsidiaries when it emerged that the carmaker had manipulated emissions levels with special software.

The so-called "defeat devices" meant that the cars complied with nitrogen oxide limits on the test bench, but not on the road. This meant that the carmakers saved themselves the high cost of having to retrofit exhaust gas purification systems onto their cars.

The revelation of the Dieselgate scandal plunged VW into the worst crisis in its history. The carmaker put the costs for the “consequences of the diesel issue” at around €32 billion ($35 billion).

Winterkorn had rejected the allegations against him and claimed that he had known nothing about any illegal activity before the manipulations became known in 2015.