Dieselgate trial of former VW chief suspended due to ill health By Reuters

By Christina Amann

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) – The criminal trial of former Volkswagen ( ETR: ) chief executive Martin Winterkorn over the so-called dieselgate scandal has been suspended due to his poor health, a court in Braunschweig said on Tuesday.

All the hearings were canceled because Winterkorn, who was ousted from running the company in 2015 after it was found that millions of Volkswagen cars were rigged to pass environmental standards, will not be fit to attend in the coming months, the court said .

The first quarter of 2025 is now being considered as a new time frame for the 77-year-old’s trial to begin, the culmination of a more than five-year case.

Criminal charges against Winterkorn include fraud, market manipulation and illegal perjury before a parliamentary committee.

It is also alleged that it did not timely inform the capital market about the massive handling of diesel engines in 2015.

At the start of the trial in September, Winterkorn said through his lawyer that he “did not deceive or harm anyone” and “did not deliberately leave the capital market in the dark so that investors would be harmed”.

The suspension comes as the future of Volkswagen’s German locations is in doubt, and the carmaker is seeking billions of euros in savings at its namesake brand.