Prosecutors have charged former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn for providing false testimony to the German parliament when he said he was not aware of the automaker’s diesel emissions cheating before it was revealed to the public.
“In his testimony, the accused falsely claimed to have been informed of the defeat devices only in September 2015,” Berlin prosecutors said on Wednesday.
“According to the indictment, he had since May 2015 been aware that the engine control software of some of the automaker’s vehicles had been geared up with a function to manipulate the exhaust values in testing,” the prosecutors added.
Volkswagen said earlier that it would claim damages from Winterkorn for breaching his position of care by failing to fully and swiftly clarify circumstances behind the use of illegal software functions in some diesel engines.
Winterkorn resigned as CEO on September 23, 2015, just a week after the scandal was uncovered.
