Volkswagen was fined 196.5 million Canadian dollars (about 144 million francs) on Wednesday after pleading guilty to 58 charges of violating Canada’s environmental laws in the global rigged diesel scandal .
A Toronto court validated an amicable settlement between the German automaker and the Canadian government, which had filed these charges against Volkswagen in December. By accepting this agreement, “the company admitted its fault and accepted full responsibility for its actions”, welcomed the prosecutor Tom Lemon, adding that the maximum amount that the fine could reach was 265 million dollars ( 195 million francs), under Canadian law.
This fine is in addition to the nearly 2.4 billion Canadian dollars (nearly 1.8 billion francs) that Volkswagen had agreed to pay in 2016 in Canada to compensate Canadians who bought some 130,000 substandard cars Volkswagen between 2009 and 2016. The same year, Volkswagen was also fined $ 17.5 million (12.9 million francs) by the Canadian Competition Bureau for false advertising.
30 days to pay the fine
In December, Ottawa accused the automaker of knowingly importing cars into Canada that do not meet emission standards, after more than four years of investigation. Volkswagen has 30 days to pay the new fine, said judge Enzo Rondinelli on Wednesday.
The amount “is twenty-six times higher than the highest fine ever imposed for environmental offenses in Canada,” said prosecutor Tom Lemon. The fine represents $ 1,450 (1,070 francs) for each of the approximately 130,000 Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche cars imported into Canada during the period of investigation. The total amount also includes a fine of $ 8 million (5.9 million francs) for providing “misleading information” to consumers.
Volkswagen admitted in 2015 that it had equipped more than 11 million cars with software that made them seem less polluting than they actually were.
The “dieselgate” has since cost VW more than 30 billion euros (32.2 billion francs) in legal fees, fines and compensation, mainly in the United States. The automaker also announced in January that it has started negotiations to settle amicably a large lawsuit against hundreds of thousands of customers in Germany.
One of the most recent settlements came in September, when Volkswagen agreed to pay 127 million Australian dollars (84.1 million francs) to settle Australian motorists’ collective legal proceedings. (Afp / nxp)
Created: 22.01.2020, 22h57
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