Dieselgate Trial for Ex-VW CEO Martin Winterkorn Delayed for Health Reasons

According to a new report from Automotive News, former Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn’s criminal trial has been suspended due to the defendant’s poor health. A court in Brunswick, in VW’s home state of Lower Saxony, made the announcement yesterday, saying that all hearings have been canceled because Winterkorn will not be fit to attend in the coming months.

Following the discovery in September 2015 by the EPA that millions of Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche cars had been set up to cheat their way past emissions testing, Winterkorn resigned from his position as the head of the Volkswagen group. “As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the supervisory board to agree on terminating my function as CEO,” said a statement from Winterkorn in late September of 2015.

As for the criminal trial, which was first taken up in September of this year, the court says that the first quarter of 2025 is now the target to resume proceedings. Charges against Winterkorn and his involvement in Dieselgate include fraud, market manipulation, and unlawful false testimony before a parliamentary committee. There are also allegations that he failed to notify capital markets in good time about the manipulation of the diesel engines.

When the trial first began, Winterkorn rejected the allegations leveled against him, saying via his lawyer that he “did not defraud or harm anyone” and “did not deliberately leave the capital market in the dark so that investors would be harmed,” according to a report from Automotive News Europe.

No further details were made available regarding the health struggles Winterkorn, 77, faces. Nevertheless, a case five years in the making isn’t likely to call it quits anytime soon. Despite the delay, we’ll be watching closely to see how things proceed early next year.