Trevor Hill (54), Head of Strategic Projects for Audi at Volkswagen’s German headquarters, entered the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 20th to be questioned in connection with allegations of Volkswagen’s emissions manipulation. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 24 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean prosecutors have requested a 150 million won ($115,000) fine for Trevor Hill, former CEO of Audi Volkswagen Korea (AVK), in connection with the automaker’s diesel emissions manipulation scandal.
During Hill’s first court hearing on Thursday at the Seoul Central District Court, prosecutors charged him with violating South Korea’s Clean Air Conservation Act.
Hill was accused of knowingly allowing the import and sale of diesel vehicles that had been equipped with illegal defeat devices designed to cheat emissions tests, under the Euro 5 environmental standard.
Hill did not appear in court. His legal team argued that he was a typical professional executive with no involvement in technical matters related to emissions or regulatory compliance.
The trial comes more than eight years after Hill was first indicted in January 2017. The case had been delayed for years due to Hill’s departure to Germany, but proceedings resumed via public notification procedures under Korean law. A verdict is scheduled for September 18.
Hill also faces charges from August 2017 for falsely marketing the environmental performance of key Volkswagen diesel models, such as the Golf 2.0 TDI, in product catalogs.
In related cases, AVK was fined 1.1 billion won and former CEO Park Dong-hoon received an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
While the lower court found the emissions tampering charges valid, higher courts later overturned most of them, citing insufficient evidence that local executives knowingly participated. The Supreme Court upheld the acquittals.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
