German authorities have charged former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler with fraud and other offenses for his involvement in the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal.
According to the Reuters news service, a prosecutor in Munich has leveled charges of fraud, false certification, and criminal advertising practices against Stadler and three other people.
Rupert Stadler was arrested last summer and spent a number of months in jail for Audi's part in the emissions investigation. He was later fired from his position as Audi CEO.
Stadler is maintaining his innocence in the wake of the so-called Dieselgate scandal in which Volkswagen and Audi built emissions cheats into four- and six-cylinder diesel engines used in VW, Audi, and Porsche vehicles.
The prosecutor is accusing Stadler of having been aware of the cheats since late September 2015, when Volkswagen's diesel emissions trangressions became public knowledge. The cheat came to light after academics at West Virginia University discovered higher-than-expected emissions from a pair of TDI diesel Volkswagen models being tested as part of an independent study.
That's when VW admitted it had installed a device that activated the engine's emissions controls only when the car was connected to emissions testing equipment. At the time, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the engines in question emitted 40 times the amount of dangerous nitrogen oxides (NOx) allowed by US regulations.
Environment Canada opened its own investigation in the case in late September 2015, and Ontario's Ministry of the Environment raided VW Canada's offices in the fall of 2017.
