Volkswagen fined $91 million in Australia for ‘diesel jet’

car maker Volkswagen Volkswagen was fined A$125 million ($91 million) to manipulate gas emissions in its diesel cars in Australia, according to a decision of the country’s High Court published on Friday.

The highest court in Australia has rejected Volkswagen’s appeal against a ruling originally issued in December 2019 By the country’s federal court, which ordered him to pay that local $125 million fine for violating Australian Consumer Law, which was upheld by full judges last April.

“Today’s decision assumes that A record fine of $125 million is maintained (Australians) imposed by the Federal Court,” Rod Sims, chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which launched a 2016 legal battle against Volkswagen over the matter, said in a statement.

The Volkswagen fined, highest fine imposed in Australia To break consumer law, this is because Australian courts held that the manufacturer should have disclosed correct information on emissions to state authorities when it requested approval for 57,000 diesel cars to be sold in Australia between 2011 and 2015.

ACCC has determined that Volkswagen did not disclose that the cars were equipped with computer software The “dual-mode” mode, which made it work in one mode for testing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and in another when driving.

“If they are tested in that second mode, the Vehicles have failed to meet Australian emissions standards,” the Australian Inspection Authority identified in a statement.

Volkswagen, faces lawsuits over the so-called diesel jet In Spain and Germany have accepted millionaire payments in the United StatesIn 2019, it pledged at least A$87 million (about $59.7 million) for those affected.

In September 2015, it became known that For years Volkswagen has fitted engines to hide nitrogen oxide emissions, which is a carcinogenic product, was much higher than what US law allows.

The following year, the manufacturer promised to pay more than $25 billion in fines and damages in the United States, and in 2017 a Canadian court approved an agreement under which Volkswagen will pay about $1.575 million in damages.

AMP