Former chief executive of Volkswagen Martin Winterkorn was among five people charged with fraud for involvement in the company’s diesel emissions scandal in 2015.

Prosecutors in the German city of Braunschweig accused Winterkorn of a “particularly serious” fraud, as well as a breach of competition laws.

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The carmaker was forced to recall hundreds of thousands of cars globally in 2015 after illegally installing software in diesel engines to bypass strict US anti-pollution tests. The devices, that were designed to perform better when the car was in test conditions, were described as “useless” by the prosecutors.

Aside from failing to inform the authorities of the device, the company “with the knowledge and approval of Winterkorn” then rolled out a software update which was designed solely to cover up the cheating devices, said the statement.

Since the scandal, VW has reportedly paid €28bn (£24bn) in fines, compensation and buyback schemes in the US.

Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US announced it was suing the German manufacturer. SEC claimed the company misled investors by issuing billions of dollars’ worth of bonds and securities, without disclosing information on the cheated emissions tests.

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A statement said the company had “reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in benefit by issuing the securities at more attractive rates for the company. Volkswagen repeatedly lied to and misled United States investors, consumers, and regulators as part of an illegal scheme to sell its purportedly ‘clean diesel’ cars and billions of dollars of corporate bonds and other securities in the United States.”

Winterkorn, who resigned in the wake of the revelation, has been charged with conspiring to cover up the scandal. Prosecutors in Germany said the 71-year-old should have alerted car owners and authorities in Europe and the US sooner about the manipulation of diesel emissions.

The four other executives facing trial remain unnamed.