He was the person in charge when Volkswagen was exposed for years of cheating with diesel cars. Still, Martin Winterkorn denies that he knew about the fraud behind dieselgate.
He went out on a limb when it emerged in 2015 that Volkswagen had cheated and manipulated the emissions of a number of popular diesel engines for years. Engines found in more than 11 million cars.
But in court, Martin Winterkorn denied this week that he knew anything about the cheating.
Reuters writes that.
The trial against Martin Winterkorn is one of just many legal battles that have dogged the Volkswagen Group since the fraud was revealed.
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Volkswagen has also since had to pay several billion kroner in compensation to both states and car owners around the world.
And in the home country of Germany, angry citizens are not done using the legal system to hunt down the brand for the fraud.
As recently as this year, a German court again rejected Volkswagen's attempt to correct the scandal. Something that has significant consequences. Read more about it here.
Back in the courtroom that Martin Vinterkorn was in on Wednesday this week, he denied everything.
– If I had had a perfect picture of the internal process in the responsible specialists' department, then I would not have hesitated to tackle the problems directly and have mapped them, the now 76-year-old German said.
If he is found guilty, Winterkorn risks up to 10 years in prison. However, it is far from certain that the elderly man will live that long.
