German prosecutors have finally announced their intention to charge former Volkswagen (VW) Group chair Martin Winterkorn with fraud over the Dieselgate emissions-cheating scandal. Winterkorn and four other senior VW Group executives will be charged by the Braunschweig prosecutor’s office for fraud and for violating competition law. While the other executives have not been named, they are believed to include former VW Group director of powertrain Heinz-Jakob Neusser, former head of diesel development Falko Rudolph and ex-diesel developer Rudolph Krebs. All have been fired by Volkswagen. Winterkorn, 71, is the biggest fish caught so far in the Dieselgate net and prosecutors insist his case of fraud is particularly serious. He resigned in September 2015 after trying to battle through the scandal over the emissions-cheating software fitted to his cars. He had already been charged with conspiracy by the US justice department, but Germany does not often extradite its citizens to the U...

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