Former Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler remains in custody after a German court rejected his appeal to be released.
German authorities arrested Stadler in June over claims there was a risk he could try to suppress evidence and hinder the ongoing investigation into Audi’s and the Volkswagen Group’s diesel-emissions cheating scandal.
“As part of an investigation into diesel affairs and Audi engines, the Munich prosecutor’s office executed an arrest warrant against Mr Professor Rupert Stadler on June 18, 2018,” the Munich prosecutor’s office said at the time.
Stadler is currently detained at a prison in the German city of Augsburg.
Stadler poses a risk to the investigation.
In a statement, the court said Stadler remains under “urgent suspicion” and that he knowingly allowed the continual sale of Audi models he knew had software to cheat diesel emissions testing.
Shortly after Stadler’s arrest, he had his post at Audi replaced by interim chief executive Bram Schot. BMW purchasing director Markus Duesmann is tipped to take the helm of Audi on January 1, 2019.
Stadler is the most senior executive from the Volkswagen Group to be arrested in relation to the diesel scandal.
In 2016, an international investigation commissioned by the Volkswagen Group found no evidence that Stadler had prior knowledge of the emissions cheating. This conclusion came despite reports that the Audi chief first learned of the cheating when he became chairman in 2007.
In 2017, Audi recalled 850,000 vehicles fitted with software designed to manipulate the results of emissions testing. In May, a further 60,000 A6 and A7 diesel models were recalled.