Prosecutor’s office appeals against Hatz’s verdict – economy

Wolfgang Hatz, former head of engine development at Audi, may have to go back to court. The public prosecutor appealed.

The Munich public prosecutor’s office has appealed against the suspended sentence for the former head of Audi engine development, Wolfgang Hatz. The suspended sentences for the former CEO Rupert Stadler and an engineer, on the other hand, are now final: In their case, the public prosecutor’s office accepts the judgment of the Munich Regional Court, said public prosecutor Matthias Enzler. A week ago, the Economic Criminal Court sentenced Hatz to two years’ imprisonment on probation and to pay 400,000 euros. The longtime head of engine development at Audi and later a member of the Porsche board of directors had confessed to the manipulation of the exhaust gas control in large diesel engines. He initiated the development of the software with which the nitrogen oxide limits were met on the test bench, but no longer on the road. This saves the carmaker the subsequent installation of larger Adblue tanks for exhaust gas cleaning. The prosecution had asked for a prison sentence of three years and two months for the 64-year-old. Hatz had been in custody in Stadelheim for nine months until June 2018. Stadler was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison on probation and payment of 1.1 million euros for fraud by omission. He did not initiate the manipulations, but stopped the sale of the cars in Germany much too late. In his case, the public prosecutor’s office had already approved the suspended sentence during the trial.