MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - In the Audi trial in Munich, defense lawyers for former CEO Rupert Stadler and the two co-defendants began their closing arguments on Tuesday. First, the lawyers for the accused engineer P. demanded a suspended sentence of well under two years. Their client had been involved in the exhaust fiddling with diesel cars of necessity, because his superiors had given him specifications that could not be fulfilled.

His early confession had made a significant contribution to the investigation. The pre-trial detention as well as the length and costs of the two-and-a-half-year trial had weighed heavily on him, the engineer's defense lawyers said before the regional court. They sharply criticized the public prosecutor's office, saying that it had adopted questionable investigation results from U.S. attorneys during the preliminary proceedings. The U.S. had exploited the diesel scandal for the benefit of its own auto industry, they said.

Stadler and the former head of Audi engine development and later Porsche board member Wolfgang Hatz have also confessed to diesel fraud. The Economic Criminal Chamber has given all three defendants the prospect of suspended sentences of between one and a half and two years for this, combined with fines. The Economic Criminal Chamber will announce its verdict in a week's time on Tuesday./rol/DP/stk