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70-Year-Old Former Volkswagen CEO Charged With Fraud Over Emissions Scandal (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader quotes CNN:
The U.S.government has charged Martin Winterkorn, the former chief executive officer of Volkswagen, with fraud in the company's diesel emissions-cheating scandal. The indictment was unsealed in Detroit on Thursday, revealing that Winterkorn had been charged on March 14 with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud Volkswagen's American customers and violate the Clean Air Act...
Volkswagen admitted in late 2015 that it fitted as many as 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide with software that could cheat emissions tests... The indictment alleges that Winterkorn was made aware of emissions cheating in May 2014 and July 2015, and that he agreed with other senior executives to continue the practice... Winterkorn, 70, is believed to be a resident of Germany. He is the ninth person charged by the U.S. government over emissions cheating.
Volkswagen admitted in late 2015 that it fitted as many as 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide with software that could cheat emissions tests... The indictment alleges that Winterkorn was made aware of emissions cheating in May 2014 and July 2015, and that he agreed with other senior executives to continue the practice... Winterkorn, 70, is believed to be a resident of Germany. He is the ninth person charged by the U.S. government over emissions cheating.
That's what i was thinking. The only time an executive gets charged is when they're not an American citizen? As an American citizen, this is even more outrageous. That's not justice.
Truth and justice is the American way as long as you're not part of the power structure. And even then, someone has their finger on the scales.
Sig not found.
No -- truth and justice are not the American way, period. People who aren't part of the power structure get railroaded into plea bargains. People who are, get off free. He's being charged because he'll never see a US courtroom -- he'll live out his life in Germany.
coal companies are blowing the top off of mountains and detroying streams and creeks and they are not in violation of the clean water act.
Absolute statements are never true
As we now know to be true, in 2008, agencies and individuals in the United States committed a massive amount of fraud in the run-up to what is in all possibility one of the worst financial crimes yet seen.
Although many of the victims of that crime were American citizens who lost jobs and homes because of the bankers' greed, they were not the only ones. Investors and savers and pensioners the world over have been absolutely devastated because of that one event, with literally tens of thousands of people across the world working into their 70s and 80s - literally until they drop dead - because of that massive amount of financial mis-management.
I appreciate that the 2008 financial crimes and the subsequent emissions scandal are two very different crimes, but how come not one US banker is serving time for what happened in 2008? How come the United States hasn't given up any of the culprits to those nations whose citizens have been robbed?
The American people have every right to be angry with the emissions scandal. What was done was wrong. I am not trying to argue otherwise. However, I am pointing out that when crimes span countries, justice is far from even-handed.
I would absolutely stand with the environmental campaigners of the United States and demand justice for the way that VAG conspired to cheat emissions testing for their vehicles. However, that would be conditional upon fair and even-handed exercise of justice. We simply can't go around selectively choosing how to serve justice.
For example, it also wasn't fair for the United States to bring a misdemeanour charge and $100,000 in fines against former General David Patreus and then convict Chelsea Manning of 19 charges including theft and espionage and then sentence her to 35 years in prison. In order for justice to work, it not only has to be fair, it has to be seen to be fair.
I'm not for one moment suggesting that the United States should not seek compensation from Volkswagen, but if they are going to ask for it, then they need to offer up an equal amount of justice for all those outside the United States who have been wronged or injured by the actions of US citizens. Anything less is hypocrisy - and it serves to undermine any good that the United States tries to do in the world.