Volkswagen’s former CEO, Bernd Pischetsrieder, and current Audi boss, Rupert Stadler, denied any knowledge of payments to workers’ representatives when they testified yesterday in the trial of former of former works council chief Klaus Volkert and former personnel manager Klaus-Joachim Gebauer, who are accused of inciting breach of trust and breach of trust respectively, by mis-using company funds.
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Pischetsrieder said he knew that Volkert was treated like the head of a brand by personnel chief, Peter Hartz, who has already been been sentenced for his role in the affair. Pischetsrieder said he thought this treatment was reasonable given Volkert’s role in the company.
According to Automobilwoche, the former CEO said he had found the VW co-management structure positive, although it has now been discredited because of the illegal payments. “It is completely clear that the restructuring of VW during the 1990s would not have been possible without Mr. Volkert, or without people like Mr. Volkert,” he said.
Pischetsrieder also defended his predecessor, Ferdinand Piech, and said he had not discussed any travel payments with him. He said he talked about future products, markets and technologies, but that there are things that do not interest senior management. He would never have looked an individual cost centre, he said, adding that a company with 300,000 employees would not get very far if the CEO did busy itself with such matters.
The payments for travel and bribes reportedly took place during the 1990s when Piech was in charge of the company. Volkert and Gebauer’s lawyers hope to get more lenient sentences for the defendants by proving that Piech knew of the payments, and that this was therefore ingrained company policy.
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By GlobalDataPiech’s former bureau chief, and current head of Audi, Rupert Stadler, testified for just 10 minutes. He said he knew nothing of any payments and that if any problems had been identified they would have handed over to internal audit.
