Audi CEO to remain in German police custody
Berlin, Aug 14: A Munich Court on Monday rejected a request by Audi CEO Rupert Stadler to be released from police custody after being imprisoned eight weeks ago in the course of ongoing "dieselgate" investigations in Germany.
A spokesperson for the court was quoted by Xinhua as saying that Stadler remained under urgent suspicion of having known of diesel emissions-cheating practices at Audi without halting the sale of affected vehicles.
Additionally, the arrest warrant delivered to the CEO was not overturned because of a danger of collusion still posed by the 55-year-old suspect.
Stadler had filed a legal complaint in the hope of being set free as he is awaiting the formal opening of a court trial to probe Audi's involvement in the "dieselgate" scandal.
Stadler and another unnamed senior manager at the Volkswagen Group subsidiary Audi are suspected of offenses of criminal fraud and "indirect false certification" in the marketing of diesel vehicles which were fitted with defeat devices to understate their actual Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions.
German investigators believe that the Ingolstadt-based luxury carmaker has sold at least 210,000 diesel vehicles with illegal emissions-cheating software in the United States and Europe since 2009.
The suspended CEO has already provided a first testimony to prosecutors while imprisoned at the Augsburg-Gablingen penitentiary facility near Munich. It remains unclear, however, whether or not he denied the accusations against him.
Stadler has been temporarily replaced in his role on the Audi management board by Bram Schot. Volkswagen has hesitated to fire Stadler prior to a conclusion of judicial proceedings against him and has only suspended the jailed CEO whose regular contract is scheduled to expire in 2022.
The arrest marked the first time that a member of the management board of a German carmaker was taken into police custody in the "dieselgate" scandal.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
