Witness speaks clearly: 'WireCard's money burn was massive'

A witness causes a stir in the company's scandalous trial. It also states the amount of capital lost per week.

In the Munich Wirecard trial, a key witness raises doubts about fake transactions worth billions at the former DAX Group. Before and after the bankruptcy in June 2020, management consulting firm FTI Andersch, which specializes in rescuing crisis-hit companies, found no evidence of the whereabouts of 1.9 billion euros that were supposed to be deposited in trust accounts in Southeast Asia.

“The money burn at Wirecard was massive,” said the witness, who worked in a management position at FTI Andersch. The consultant estimated Wirecard's capital loss at the time at around ten million euros per week.

The crisis specialist described how the advisory service combed Wirecard's finances in the summer of 2020. The motive for this came from Wirecard's creditor banks. The investigation then revealed that between 2015 and 2020, nearly 500 million euros had flowed out of the company, the witness reported. The majority of the profits recorded on the balance sheets were generated by so-called “third-party partners” (TPAs) in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, which, according to Wirecard, processed credit card payments there on behalf of German Payment. Service provider.

“No one reported”

“We looked almost everywhere.” Other Wirecard companies got almost no results. “This means that without TPA’s actions we would have incurred losses,” asked Presiding Judge Markus Fodich. “Yes, that's true,” the witness confirmed on the 155th day of the trial in the underground courtroom of the JVA Stadelheim, Bavaria's largest prison.

It was also the proceeds of the TPA — which, according to the indictment, were fabricated — that were recorded in trust accounts in Southeast Asia. It was also striking to the consultant at the time that the Wirecard bankruptcy was not followed by any reaction from these business partners: “No TPA partners or retailers reached out.”

Insolvency administrator Michael Jaffe has not yet been able to trace the missing $1.9 billion. Markus Braun, the former CEO of Wirecard, now in detention for more than four years, denies all the accusations, and in turn accuses a group around sales director Jan Marszalek, who allegedly disappeared in Russia, and key witness Oliver Bellenhaus, who was – accused in Munich of embezzling billions. of real transactions. (APA/DPA-AFX)