Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Monday, June 26, 2023
FRANKFURT – Three years after German payment provider Wirecard collapsed in scandal, the bankruptcy administrator overseeing the remains of the firm says there remains no trace of €1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) in missing funds allegedly booked in escrow accounts.
The latest status report from administrator Michael Jaffé contradicts claims by ex-Wirecard chief executive Markus Braun, who is currently on criminal trial for alleged fraud in the massive accounting scandal.
There remains no evidence to indicate that the missing money or the supposed underlying Wirecard business were real, according to the report, which was obtained by dpa.
“On the contrary, every further investigation has confirmed that this was not the case.”
Criminal proceedings against Braun and two other former Wirecard managers have been ongoing in Munich court since December.
At the heart of the criminal charges is the allegation that Braun and his accomplices invented supposed transactions and fabricated phony sales worth billions of euros in order to keep the firm afloat and trick lenders into giving further loans.
Wirecard partner companies in Asia supposedly processed credit card payments on behalf of the German company. The indictment contends that the business was entirely fictitious, while Braun maintains it was real.
The company, the rise of which in the 2010s briefly made it a star of the German business world, was actually haemorrhaging money, according to prosecutors. Wirecard’s downfall brought extensive public attention in Germany.
Braun has argued that the transactions were real but the proceeds were supposedly stolen by other culprits, a claim that Jaffé portrayed as implausible in his latest report.
