The Wirecard case begins, the biggest financial scandal in Germany
Markus Braun, the former chief executive of Wirecard AG, and two former executives of the company are on trial at the hearing, which began under high security in a courtroom near the Stadelheim prison.
In the indictment read at the first hearing of the case, the prosecution accused the defendants of forming a criminal gang, defrauding the company’s balance sheet and defrauding the company’s creditors for more than 3,000 million euros.
Arrested, Braun denied the accusations against him. It was also stated that Oliver Bellenhaus, a former manager of the Dubai-based Wirecard company, will cooperate with the prosecution in connection with the allegations.
While 100 hearings are reportedly scheduled in the case, a decision is not expected before 2024.
THE LARGEST FINANCIAL SCANDAL IN GERMANY SINCE 1945
German prosecutors questioned more than 450 people, searched more than 40 properties and scanned 42 terabytes of data with a special police team after the Wirecard bankruptcy shocked the country’s political and financial institutions.
In 2020, Wirecard, which until a few years ago was considered the “future of German financial technology”, became the address of the country’s biggest financial scandal since 1945, after it was revealed that more than 1.9 billion euros had disappeared from the balance sheet of the company. bed sheet.
The company declared bankruptcy after 3.2 billion euros of debt emerged.
After the scandal, the German Federal Banking Regulatory Agency (BaFin) faced accusations that it failed to audit the financial technology company and the head of the institution resigned.
In 2020, the then Chancellor Angela Merkel and the then Finance Minister, the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, were criticized for being inadequate in their oversight of the company.
Founded in 1999, Wirecard’s shareholders include The Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley, Societe Generale SA, Bank of America Corporation, and Citigroup.
The scandal arose after EY, which oversees Wirecard, failed to confirm financial results from the previous year, claiming more than €1.9bn was missing from the company’s 2019 accounts.
Wirecard AG’s shares were listed on the Dax 30 index, which housed the largest companies in Germany before the bankruptcy. (AA)
Source: Sozcu
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