German prosecutors charged former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and four others with fraud in the emissions cheating scandal that has helped turn many Europeans against diesel engines and accelerated the push toward electric cars.

Prosecutors said Monday that Winterkorn knew about the scheme since at least May 2014 and failed to put a stop to it.

That contradicted his claim that he didn't learn about it until shortly before U.S. investigators announced it in September 2015. Winterkorn resigned as CEO five days later.

VW has admitted installing software in its diesel cars that turned on pollution controls when vehicles were being tested and switched them off during everyday driving. That made it look as if the cars met tough U.S. limits on harmful pollutants known as nitrogen oxides.

In all, some 11 million cars worldwide were equipped with the illegal software.

Prosecutors said the defendants — all top Volkswagen managers — were part of a deception that started in 2006.

The 71-year-old Winterkorn and the others, whose names were not released, face six months to 10 years in prison if convicted of aggravated fraud involving serious losses. Other charges include unfair competition and breach of trust.

Prosecutors said the defendants could also be forced to forfeit sales bonuses ranging from around 300,000 euros to 11 million euros ($340,000 to $12.45 million).

Winterkorn is already under indictment in the U.S. on charges of fraud and conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act and could get up to 20 years in prison. But he cannot be extradited from Germany to the U.S.

Winterkorn's attorney, Felix Doerr, said that the defense could not comment on the German case because prosecutors had not provided adequate opportunity to review the case files. Doerr said prosecutors turned over seven DVDs with hundreds of file folders of material on April 5.

The case, consisting of a 692-page indictment backed by 300 file volumes holding 75,000 pages, was filed in a local court in Braunschweig on Friday. The court will decide if the case will proceed to trial.

Prosecutors said among other things that the defendants carried out a software update costing 23 million euros in 2014 to try to cover up the true reason for the elevated pollution during driving.

The prosecutors said they are still investigating 36 more suspects.

Volkswagen's corporate involvement in the Braunschweig investigation ended last year with a 1 billion euro fine. Volkswagen noted that the indictment was against individuals and had no further comment.

The prosecutors' move is only one of the legal proceedings unleashed by the scandal.

Volkswagen has paid more than 27 billion euros (currently $31 billion) in fines and civil settlements with authorities and car owners since getting caught.

The automaker apologized and pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the United States, where two executives were sentenced to prison and six others charged, although they could not be extradited.

And the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company and Winterkorn on March 15 with defrauding investors through misleading statements about vehicle quality and environmental compliance.

Investors in Germany are also seeking damages.

The scandal unleashed widespread scrutiny of diesel emissions across the industry. It soon turned out that many models from other companies also emitted far more pollution on the road than on the test stand, because of regulatory loopholes exploited by carmakers such as turning exhaust controls off at certain temperatures to reduce engine wear.

Diesel sales, once half the European car market, have sagged.

That in turn has undermined carmakers' plans to use diesels — which get better mileage — to help meet tougher European Union limits in 2021 on emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.

One result has been greater pressure to develop battery-powered cars to avoid heavy fines for breaching the new emissions limits. Volkswagen plans to spend 30 billion euros to develop electric vehicles by 2023.

The company was able to weather the scandal well enough to take the top spot as the world's largest carmaker from Toyota. Last year, under CEO Herbert Diess, Volkswagen had record sales of 10.83 million vehicles, making an operating profit of 13.9 billion euros.

• ByDAVID MCHUGH, AP BUSINESS WRITER  FRANKFURT, Germany — Apr 15, 2019, 4:05 PM ET

（译文）德国检察官指控前大众汽车公司首席执行官马丁·温特科恩和其他四人在排放欺诈丑闻中欺诈，这些丑闻已经帮助许多欧洲人对抗柴油发动机并加速了对电动汽车的推动。

        这与他在2015年9月美国调查人员宣布之前不知情的说法相矛盾.Winterkorn五天后辞去首席执行官一职。检察官周一表示，温特科恩至少从2014年5月就知道该计划，并未能制止。

        检察官表示，被告 - 所有大众汽车的高级管理人员 - 都是2006年开始的欺骗行为的一部分。

        71岁的温特科恩和其他人的名字未被释放，如果被判犯有严重损失的严重欺诈罪，将面临6个月至10年的监禁。其他指控包括不公平竞争和违反信托。

        检察官称，被告也可能被迫放弃销售奖金，从大约300,000欧元到1100万欧元（340,000美元到1245万美元）不等。

        由于欺诈和串谋违反“清洁空气法”的指控，温特科恩已经在美国被起诉，并可能被判入狱20年。但他不能从德国引渡到美国

        温特科恩的律师Felix Doerr表示，辩方无法评论德国案件，因为检察官没有提供足够的机会审查案件档案。杜尔说，检察官在4月5日用数百个材料文件夹翻了七张DVD。

        该案件由一份692页的起诉书组成，该起诉书由300个文件卷提供，共有75,000页，于周五在布伦瑞克的一个地方法院提起。法院将决定该案件是否会进入审判阶段。

        检察官说，除其他事项外，被告在2014年进行了一项耗资2300万欧元的软件更新，试图掩盖驾驶过程中污染加剧的真正原因。

        检察官说，他们仍在调查另外36名嫌犯。

        去年，大众汽车公司参与布伦瑞克的调查，罚款10亿欧元。大众汽车指出，起诉书是针对个人的，没有进一步的评论。

        检察官的举动只是该丑闻引发的法律诉讼之一。

        自被捕以来，大众汽车已向当局和车主支付超过270亿欧元（目前为310亿美元）的罚款和民事住区。

        该汽车制造商为在美国的刑事指控表示道歉并承认，两名高管被判入狱，其他六人被起诉，尽管他们无法被引渡。

        美国证券交易委员会于3月15日指控该公司和Winterkorn通过误导性的关于车辆质量和环境合规性的声明来欺骗投资者。

        德国的投资者也在寻求赔偿。

        这一丑闻引发了整个行业对柴油排放的广泛审查。很快，由于汽车制造商利用的监管漏洞，例如在某些温度下关闭排气控制装置以减少发动机磨损，其他公司的许多车型在道路上的排放污染也远远超过试验台。

        曾经是欧洲汽车市场一半的柴油销量下滑。

        这反过来又削弱了汽车制造商使用柴油的计划 - 这会增加里程数 - 以帮助在2021年达到更严格的欧盟限制二氧化碳排放量，二氧化碳是导致全球变暖的主要温室气体。

        一个结果是开发电池驱动汽车的压力更大，以避免因违反新的排放限制而被罚款。大众汽车计划到2023年投入300亿欧元开发电动汽车。

        该公司能够很好地度过这一丑闻，成为全球最大的丰田汽车制造商。去年，在首席执行官赫伯特·迪斯（Herbert Diess）的领导下，大众汽车的销量达到创纪录的1,083万辆，营业利润为139亿欧元。