Ex-Volkswagen managers convicted of fraud in emissions scandal
The verdicts come almost a decade after a scandal erupted over the company's rigging of diesel-engine vehicles.
The former head of diesel development was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, and the head of drive train electronics to two years and seven months by the court in Braunschweig, according to German news agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Two others received suspended sentences of 15 months and 10 months.
The scandal began in September 2015 when the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation, saying that Volkswagen had rigged engine control software that let the cars pass tests while they emitted far more pollution in actual driving.
The company has paid more than €29 billion in fines and compensation to vehicle owners.
Two VW managers received prison sentences in the United States.
Former head of the company's Audi division, Rupert Stadler, was given a suspended sentence of 21 months and a fine of €1.1 million. The sentence is subject to appeal.
Missing from the trial, which lasted almost four years, was former chief executive Martin Winterkorn.
Proceedings against him have been suspended because of health issues, and it is not clear when he might go on trial. Mr Winterkorn has denied wrongdoing.
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Agriland
a day ago
- Agriland
Kramer: From mowers to loaders in 100 years
The tie-in between John Deere and Kramer brought the loader manufacturer more fully to the attention of many in Ireland as, although Kramer was available here, it did not have the marketing power that John Deere possess. Yet little is known about the origins of the company over here other than it is German and it specialises in telescopic loaders. Kramer dates all the way back to 1918 and three brothers, Emil, Hans and Karl Kramer, who established a machinery business at Gutmadingen on the River Danube. The first mower they built was powered by a 4hp motorcycle engine and, despite mixed reviews when first put on the market in 1925, the machine sold 33 units. There is some vagueness as to how the mower was powered, with some sources noting that it was horse-drawn while others suggest that it was self-propelled. Kramer's first self-propelled machine had a 4.5hp engine However, there is a general consensus that this year marks the centenary of mower production proper and an improved version appeared at a local show in 1928. The Kramer brothers never built their own engines, so this first model used a Güldner unit, starting a long relationship with the company that lasted until the 1960s. More powerful tractors began to appear in the mid-1930s, which followed the continental pattern of a separate frame with engine and cylinders arranged horizontally. This K18 model from 1937 demonstrates how rapidly the company developed its product line. Source: Stefan Krause Following the war, Kramer continued to build this form of tractor but the K25 of 1943 saw the company start moving towards using the engine block as the frame. Two distinct model ranges also emerged during the 1950s: the KW machines were powered mainly by water-cooled Güldner engines while the KL models had a Deutz air-cooled unit fitted. On a few models, a larger MWM engine was employed and when Güldner stopped producing engines they went so far as to use Standard Motor diesels, as found in the Ferguson TE20. Towards the end of the 1960s, the tractor range was given its final facelift. Out went the round, slim, 'kidney' bonnets from the 1950s and in came a much more modern square-shaped machine. This Kramer Allrad KL950 from 1970 offered 55hp and was one of the later tractors the company built 'Allrad', in German, means 'all wheel drive' and for a while Kramer enjoyed some success with their 4X4 tractors during the hectic years of the 1960s. But by 1973, it was all over for their conventional tractor range. However, Kramer had developed a radical four-wheel-steer tractor, known as the 'Two Way', which as its name suggests was completely reversible and built with a similar layout to the Deutz Intrac and MB Trac. This stayed in production until 1980. Another new development took place in 1968 when Kramer introduced Germany's first four-wheel-drive loader. The market for tractors was shrinking and so it turned to the construction sector as the best way forward, settling on material handling as the most promising sector. The loading shovel became Kramer's main line of business in the 1970s. This 312 model dates from 1978 and is powered by a 48hp Deutz engine. Eventually the loader was combined with the four-wheel-steer tractor system in 1987 to produce the basis of the range we see today. The company also underwent a series of mergers, first with the Austrian company Neuson and then with Wacker AG. The KL55.8T retains the connection with Deutz, being powered by a 136hp engine from the company The latest deal with John Deere sees the American company take a 5% equity stake in Kramer, granting it certain distribution rights, but the machines will remain in Kramer colours. With nearly 60 years' experience of building loaders, Kramer has settled on the rigid rather than articulated frame as a design fundamental, due to its inherent safety. This frame continues to sell to what has become a very competitive market.
Extra.ie
a day ago
- Extra.ie
The remarkable life and love story of Galen and Hilary Weston
At the age of 21, Galen Weston left his home in Canada in 1962 and flew to Ireland to start a new business. Soon after arriving, he spotted a billboard that showed a young woman in hot pants and mentioned to his friend, auctioneer Corrie Buckley, that she was exactly the sort of girl he'd like to meet. Ireland being Ireland, Buckley actually knew her and set up a meeting at a dinner party. Hilary Frayne was no ordinary model, but arguably Ireland's first supermodel, and a muse to legendary fashion designer Sybil Connolly. Weston arrived to the party with a heavy cold, and she suggested a hot toddy. 'I think he had rather too many hot toddies,' she later told the Irish Times. 'It cured him but it nearly killed him as well.' It was the start of a love affair that, after marriage in 1966, endured across six decades, until his death in 2021 at the age of 80 and her death on August 3rd 2025 age 83. In those years, the couple enjoyed the trappings of unimaginable wealth, but also faced down the spectre of terrorism when targeted for kidnap by the IRA. They built a retail empire that included luxury goods stores in Ireland, the UK, Canada and the Netherlands – indeed, Weston bought Brown Thomas as a wedding gift for his wife, just as his own father once bought London's Fortnum & Mason for Galen's mother — and Power's supermarkets and Quinnsworth. Galen and Hilary Weston in 2009. Pic: Rolling News In Canada, Galen restored the fortunes of his family's Loblaws grocery chain and turned it into the country's biggest, and he was one of the first retailers to introduce own-brand lines to the shelves. As a keen polo player, he was a close friend of Britain's Prince Charles, and there was another royal connection when, in 1997, Hilary Weston began a five-year term as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the representative of Queen Elizabeth in the province. As for the money, their €11.8billion fortune saw them top the Sunday Times Irish Rich List for 11 consecutive years. In Ireland, though, Galen Weston will always be remembered for one thing — he was the man who launched Penneys, and with it a million self-deprecating retorts in the face of a compliment: 'This old thing? Thanks, but it's Penneys, hun.' Willard Gordon Galen Weston, known as Galen, was born in Marlow in Buckinghamshire in October 1940, a time when English cities were being blitzed by German aircraft. His father, W Garfield Weston, in turn was the son of a wealthy businessman, George Weston, owner of the largest bakery in Ontario. Garfield expanded the business across the Atlantic, laying the foundations of the company now known as Associated British Foods; it is the parent of Penneys/ Primark and owner of well-known grocery products such as Ovaltine, Ryvita, Twinings tea, Patak's Indian food, and Kingsmill bread (and, until 1997, Stewart's and Crazy Prices supermarkets in Northern Ireland, and Quinnsworth, Crazy Prices and Lifestyle Sports in the Republic). Hilary Weston in 2015. Pic: Getty Young Galen was ambitious, and when his father refused to bankroll his desire to set up his own businesses, his Northern Irish grandmother, Eliza Whalley, gave him £100,000 to set up in Ireland. It was fortuitous timing. The country was opening up to foreign investment, there was a massive drift from rural to urban centres, and a young population keen to spend the extra money in their pockets. Galen founded Power's supermarkets, which grew to six stores, and then bought the ailing Todd Burns grocery chain. His masterstroke was to team up with Arthur Ryan, who has worked in men's fashion in London before returning to Ireland for a job in Dunnes Stores. Headhunted by Weston and his father Garfield, Ryan oversaw the opening of the first Penneys in Mary Street in Dublin in 1969, still their flagship Irish store. Hilary was in the middle of it all. 'She was the great seamstress, who could make all her own clothes, who ran the cut machine and trim business that stocked the first Penneys store in Mary Street,' Galen later said. 'That was Hilary's operation, that private label. That is where Primark got its original name and the brand.' A trademark oversight by US company JC Penney saw Weston able to call the shop Penneys in Ireland only; the Americans had it registered elsewhere, so when the chain expanded, first into the UK and later all over Europe and the United States, the Primark brand came into being. Hilary also was hands on with Brown Thomas, at that time in the premises opposite its current home in the former Switzers. 'Working at Brown Thomas was such fun,' Hilary later told the Irish Times. 'I had a great girlfriend from school, Cecily McMenamin, originally we both modelled together for Irene Gilbert. We would travel, go to Milan and Paris and see the collections and direct it from that point of view. She was a bella figura in terms of fashion, in Ireland and wherever she went.' In 1972, Hilary gave birth to twins Alannah and Willard Galen in Dublin (Willard is known as Galen G Weston, or Galen Jr in many quarters, and irreverently as G2). Now 48, she serves as chairman of the board of the Selfridges Group, which includes the iconic Oxford Street store in London and branches in other English cities, Brown Thomas in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, Holt Renfrew in Canada and De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, while Galen Jr is chairman and CEO of George Weston Limited. Galen and Hilary Weston in 1995. Pic: Rolling News In 1974, Galen was called back to Canada by his father to sort out the ailing Loblaws grocery chain. It had lost market share and was slowly being crushed under a mountain of debt, so Galen closed half the stores and had the rest remodelled — among the innovations, familiar to all of us now, was the relocation of fruit and vegetables to the front of the shop rather than down the back, a psychological signal that everything is fresh and healthy. 'As a 200-store chain, we didn't look very good,' he later said. 'As a 100-store chain, we looked very good indeed.' The couple had maintained an Irish residence at Roundwood Park in the Wicklow mountains, a former home of President Sean T Ó Ceallaigh, and it was there in 1983 that the IRA mounted a plot to kidnap the businessman. Gardaí received intelligence on the plan and the family were in England at the time – Galen was playing polo with Prince Charles. A trap was laid and members of the Garda anti-terrorist unit opened fire on the five-member gang. Over 100 shots were fired and all the gang were arrested. Spooked by this and the kidnap of Quinnsworth executive Don Tidey, also in 1983, the Westons gave Ireland a wide berth for many years. Instead, they took the lease on Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park, which is owned by the Crown Estate and was the site of the abdication of King Edward VIII when he stood down less than a year after becoming king in order to marry divorcée Wallis Simpson. There, Galen kept his stable of polo ponies, and the couple were regular guests of royalty in Windsor Castle itself. They also built a gated community in Windsor, Florida, on the Atlantic coast north of Vero Beach. The streets bear familiar names reflecting key elements of the family's lives – Windsor itself, Twining Terrace after the tea, Fortnum Place after Fortnum & Mason, Tara Way for Ireland, Holt Lane for Holt Renfrew, Chukkar Lane for polo, and Frayne Drive, after Hilary's maiden name. It was there that Galen Weston died in April 2021, after a long illness. In 1997, Hilary accepted the invitation of Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien to run for lieutenant governor of Ontario; she won over her doubters by becoming the most active in the province's history, hosting more than 600 receptions and making 628 speeches, and donating her $92,000 salary to charity. As for Galen, he retired at 75, as had his father before him, to hand the reins to his son, and concentrated on charitable fellowships. Hilary also was the founder of the Ireland Fund of Canada in 1979, and was the driving force behind the biggest fundraising campaigning in Canadian history, resulting in a CA$250million boost for the Royal Ontario Museum. She also is the holder of ten honorary degrees, including one each from UCD and Trinity College Dublin. Galen is said to have worn his wealth lightly, as much at home in the company of those working on the floor of his supermarkets as with his fellow billionaires and royalty. Robert Prichard, a lawyer and member of the George Weston board, said Galen spent many Saturdays visiting stores just to talk to workers — there are 120,000 of them — and shoppers on the floor in Loblaws. He was sporty too. 'You name the sport and he'd beat me at every one of them,' Prichard said. 'He was a very good tennis player, he took up golf later in life when he gave up polo, and he was a gifted and graceful athlete. It didn't matter what sport it was.' He also lived by simple wisdom handed down by his own father: 'He taught me that making a decision is more important than making the perfect decision and that you need to do what you love to have an interesting life.' His son Galen Jr recalled that he and Alannah were not allowed go to boarding school. 'We were always kept at day schools so that we would hear what my dad had been doing during the day, the problems and successes he was having,' he said this week. 'As he pushed me and my sister up and down store aisles in a shopping cart, our Saturdays became lessons in retail, bakery and real estate, where I also saw first-hand the fundamental values that lead to success. He was always curious and interested in what everyone had to say, whether it was a backroom receiver, a colleague on a packaging line, or a division president. He always knew there was something to learn from them.' In an interesting retail match made in heaven, Galen Jr married Alexandra Schmidt, the granddaughter of Thomas Bata, who founded the global footwear chain that bears his surname. Like his father, Galen Jr maintains a low profile and doesn't flaunt the family wealth. David Peterson, a fellow pupil with Galen Sr at the University of Western Ontario and later a Liberal premier of the province, told a story this week that emphasised the point. One weekend when they were at college, Galen suggested they crash at his sister's apartment in Toronto. 'We pulled up to the gate in this beat-up car, and went up the driveway to this beautiful house,' Peterson said. 'A guy came to the door, and said, 'Hello, Master Galen', then took our bags. I looked at Galen and said 'Who ARE you?'. All through their youthful friendship, he had no idea Weston was rich. This laidback approach to money and all it can buy also seems crucial to Hilary Frayne Weston. 'Luxury is such an overused word in so many ways, especially as far as fashion is concerned; luxury is different to everybody,' she said in that interview with the Irish Times. 'But the greatest luxury? Time is the greatest luxury.' Fifty-five years of happy marriage certainly testify to that. Hilary Weston died on August 3rd 2025, a statement from Brown Thomas said: 'Everyone at Brown Thomas Arnotts is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Hilary Weston — a truly remarkable person. Along with her husband Galen, her vision and enduring support for Irish culture and Irish enterprise laid the foundations for the success we enjoy today. On behalf of all of us at Brown Thomas Arnotts, I offer our heartfelt condolences to the Weston family at this time. Her memory and impact will not be forgotten. — Donald McDonald, CEO, Brown Thomas Arnott
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Two Irish tourists ‘violently' attacked by teen knife gang in Malaga after night out as hospital treats facial fractures
COSTA DEL HELL Two Irish tourists 'violently' attacked by teen knife gang in Malaga after night out as hospital treats facial fractures TWO tourists were left with facial fractures and other injuries after being mugged by a teenage knife gang in a Costa del Sol resort. The Irish pair were attacked as they walked back to their hotel in the picturesque town of Nerja around 30 miles east of Malaga after a night out. 2 Irish tourists were left with facial fractures and other injuries after being attacked by a teenage gang Credit: Solarpix 2 Remains of blood were left spattered on a residential property Credit: Solarpix Police are understood to have identified the suspects as four local youngsters, believed to include a minor but it was not clear if they had made arrests after Friday morning's incident. Respected local paper Sur said the culprits threatened their victims with a knife before repeatedly punching and kicking them and fleeing with stolen cash and mobile phones. It described the attack as so 'violent' remains of blood were left spattered on a residential property. Police were alerted by residents who heard screams and shouting. The Irish holidaymakers were reportedly taken to hospital with each suffering several facial fractures among other injuries. The Civil Guard in Malaga has not yet made any official comment. Separately, an Irish tourist has been involved in a death crash in a Majorcan holiday resort. The 38-year-old was at the wheel of a rental car which collided head-on with a 51-year-old German cyclist in Santa Ponsa, a short drive from the party resort of Magaluf. Police spent nearly half an hour trying to save the man knocked off his bike before paramedics arrived and confirmed he was dead and nothing could be done to revive him. No arrests are believed to have been made, although a local judge has opened an investigation. Unconfirmed reports said the unnamed cyclist, who lived in Majorca, rode the wrong way into the street where the collision occurred just before 5pm last Thursday. It is not known whether the Irish tourist, who has not been named, was travelling alone in the hire car or with other people
