Third Wirecard suspect placed in custodial interrogation
After one and a half years of trial, the former Wirecard accountant breaks his silence. However, the judge's statements do not match the accountant's claims. The investigators discovered an irregularity in the way the Wirecard balance figures were reported.
In the Wirecard trial, the former chief accountant of the company found himself in explanatory proceedings. The presiding judge Markus Fodisch confronted the defendant E. with significant inconsistencies in the reporting of Wirecard business figures: According to this, the company published preliminary results very frequently in the years before the billion-dollar bankruptcy in 2020, before the three main partner companies had even fully reported their figures.
"That's the central point," said Fodisch to the 49-year-old, who was previously responsible for compiling the balance figures. Fodisch presented E. in court with a comprehensive analysis by the prosecution. An example: Wirecard published a preliminary financial report for the third quarter of 2016 on October 26, 2016. However, the three partner companies Senjo, Al Alam and Payeasy transmitted their figures via email only in November. This delay was apparently not an isolated, but rather a quasi standard case, as the investigators' table shows.
The three companies processed Wirecard credit card transactions in the Middle East and Southeast Asia on behalf of the company. According to the indictment, this so-called TPA business did not exist, the prosecution assumes that turnover and profits were fabricated. "Without TPA figures, it was not possible to make the preliminary reports," said the presiding judge to the defendant. "It doesn't fit with what you're telling us."
Some data no longer verifiable
The former chief accountant had broken his silence in court last week and made extensive statements to the prosecution, but had not delivered the comprehensive confession requested by the court. His lawyer emphasized that the three partner companies had indeed provided figures. However, some of these data had come via screenshots that the coconspirator and crown witness Oliver Bellenhaus from Dubai had sent via the Telegram chat service on his mobile phone - data that are now lost and therefore no longer verifiable.
"The final figures were always available in all invoices," the lawyer stressed. Bellenhaus has largely acknowledged the accusations against him, but former CEO Markus Braun has repeatedly rejected them. The former chief accountant has also accused Bellenhaus of perjury. The Munich megatrial, which was opened in December 2022, is now in a break for almost four weeks during the summer.
In the ongoing Wirecard trial, the German justice system is scrutinizing the role of processes in the company's financial reporting. The economy of Munich, where Wirecard is based, is closely watching the proceedings, as they could impact the city's reputation as a financial hub. Despite the former chief accountant's claims, it appears that preliminary financial reports were published before the three main partner companies had fully reported their figures, which could potentially be a violation of economic reporting regulations.
