Admin I Tuesday, August 06, 2024
MUNICH – German authorities on Tuesday charged two former board members of the failed payment service provider Wirecard Group, after more than four years of investigations.
The Munich public prosecutor’s office accused former chief financial officer Alexander von Knoop and Susanne Steidl, who was responsible for product development, of several counts of embezzlement.
Wirecard collapsed in the summer of 2020 after €1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) allegedly held in South East Asian escrow accounts could not be traced, resulting in hundreds of civil lawsuits in addition to criminal proceedings.
The two are alleged to have been involved in board decisions to allocate company funds to Wirecard’s business partners without collateral.
The Munich Regional Court must now decide whether the charges are admissible.
However, investigators do not believe that the pair were involved in the alleged billion-euro fraud for which former chief executive Markus Braun and two other former Wirecard managers have been on trial in Munich since December 2022.
Von Knoop’s lawyers emphasized that he had “at no time been aware of any machinations to the detriment of Wirecard AG and its shareholders.”
“At no time did Mr von Knoop have the intention or even the idea of harming Wirecard Group companies in his actions,” the lawyers added.
A spokesman for Steidl said he could not comment on ongoing proceedings.
