Ex-Audi boss Stadler in line for big payout
Rupert Stadler released from jail as Dieselgate investigations continueMunich prosecutors have released former Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler after four-and-a-half months in prison over alleged interference in their ‘Dieselgate’ investigations.
Stadler’s release comes just weeks after the Volkswagen Group forced him out of both his Audi CEO and VAG board roles, with an €8 million ($A12.78 million) sweetener that will only be payable if he’s found innocent of all Dieselgate accusations.
Stadler has been held without charge in jail in the Bavarian city of Augsburg (Audi is headquartered in Ingolstadt, in Bavaria) after police alleged they intercepted the 55-year-old on a phone call attempting to hinder their investigations.
While Stadler wasn’t suspected of playing a role in developing the emissions-cheating diesel software at the centre of the Dieselgate scandal, prosecutors have questioned his actions in the wake of the $30 billion crisis.
They are still investigating other senior Volkswagen and Audi executives and engineers over the scandal, including at least one Porsche board member, while it released former Volkswagen Group powertrain board member, Wolfgang Hatz, after nine months in a Munich prison without charge.
Stadler, jailed in mid-June, signed a new five-year contract as Audi CEO in May – to almost universal consternation – and resigned in early October.
He had been on the board of Audi since 2003, its Chairman since 2007 and a member of the Volkswagen Group’s board of management since 2010.
Stadler has an estimated personal wealth in excess of €100 million and annual reports showed his baseline contract with Audi brought him about €15 million and his Volkswagen Group board seat another €5.25 million in 2017.
Volkswagen has already been criticised for paying out more than €13 million to former powertrain development head, Wolfgang Hatz, when it sacked him over Dieselgate.
It even paid out big money to the executive it brought in to clean up its culture at the height of the crisis.
The Volkswagen Group paid lawyer Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt €6.3 million to buy her out of her Daimler contract and parachute her in as its board member in charge of Integrity and Legal Affairs, then paid her another €6.9 million to leave 13 months later
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