Dieselgate : first arrest of a former head of Audi

A former head of Audi, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, has been arrested in Germany, first in the context of the scandal of diesel engines-fixing, said Friday the Prosecutor general’s office of Munich, a few hours after the announcement of an indictment by the authorities american.

“Monday, the accused was arrested, he was presented to the judge Tuesday and an arrest warrant has been issued. The accused has been in provisional detention,” said a spokesman for the prosecutor, confirming information of the magazine Der Spiegel, but without mention of name. According to the German newspaper, it is Giovanni P. that was until a few months ago, responsible for the development of diesel engines at Audi, the premium brand of Volkswagen.

23 billion paid by Volkswagen in the United States

This same person, presented to the United States as Giovanni Pamio, an Italian, 60 years old, has been charged by the us authorities, accused of having played a role in the “conspiracy” to deceive the authorities and the american motorists on the actual level of greenhouse gas emissions and polluting of Audi models, explained Thursday night the u.s. department of Justice (DoJ) in a press release.

At the end of 2015, Volkswagen was recognized to have equipped 11 million of its diesel cars, including approximately 600,000 in the United States, a software that distort the results of the tests anti-pollution and concealing emissions in excess of up to 40 times the approved standards. The group has put an end to the prosecutions in the u.s. in exchange for payment of a fine criminal of $ 2.8 billion. In total, the first automaker in the world has agreed to pay $ 23 billion in the United States, in particular to compensate around 600,000 motorists and repair the damage caused to the environment.

Responsible of the emission control system

From approximately 2006 to 2015, Giovanni Pamio managed a team of engineers responsible for the design of systems of control of emissions, including nitrogen oxide (NOx) for diesel vehicles in the United States.

“Once Mr. Pamio and his co-conspirators realized that it was impossible to calibrate a diesel engine complying with the emission standards of NOx with the constraints imposed by other divisions of the company, he has ordered to employees of Audi to design and implement software to defraud the american tests on emissions,” notes the DoJ.

They have “deliberately chosen not to mention this software and they have informed and assured that the vehicles met the us standards on NOx emissions”, adds the document.

The us authorities had conducted the first charge of an employee of Volkswagen in this case in September 2016, an american engineer who had pleaded guilty to avoid a trial. Six other executives of the company have since been implicated, one of which was arrested in January in Miami.

(With AFP)

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