Wirecard scandal: A sign of life from the volatile boss

2023-07-18 16:21:19

A sign of life from the fugitive Jan Marsalek

After the German financial service provider went bankrupt three years ago, the former Wirecard boss went into hiding. Now he has contacted the Munich Regional Court via a lawyer.

Published today at 18:21

A file with Marsalek mug shots in the Wirecard investigative committee of the Bundestag.

Foto: Sean Gallup (Keystone/Archiv)

The fugitive former Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek wrote to the Munich I district court through his defense attorney. On Tuesday, a court spokesman confirmed a corresponding report by “Wirtschaftswoche” without wanting to name the contents of the letter. The lawyer told AFP: “We have commented on different facets and different people.”

According to “Wirtschaftswoche”, Marsalek, who was being pursued by the Munich judiciary, did not specifically address the allegations made against him. However, he commented on the third-party business of the insolvent payment service provider and made it clear that this existed.

The third-party business is a central topic of the Wirecard process, which is currently being carried out against the former CEO Markus Braun. The public prosecutor’s office assumes that this business did not exist – Braun, on the other hand, says it did exist.

According to “Wiwo”, Marsalek also commented on the different parties involved in the document. In judicial circles, it is said that Marsalek primarily incriminated co-defendant Oliver B., who is considered the prosecution’s key witness. B. was Wirecard’s governor in Dubai for a long time. After the company collapsed, he charged Braun and his former colleague Stephan von E.

In court for gang fraud

According to “Wiwo”, Marsalek is said to have given the court to understand that B. was not telling the truth on several points. B.’s defense attorney, Florian Eder, told the magazine about the alleged allegations: “You can write a lot and say a lot, but you don’t have to believe everything”.

Braun and the two co-accused are on trial, among other things, for gang fraud. You face long prison terms. The Wirecard case has been under discussion at the Munich I District Court for several months.

The Wirecard insolvency is one of the biggest economic scandals in Germany. Braun, together with the rest of the Wirecard boardroom, is said to have booked bogus transactions in the billions over the years and thus swindled large loans. He denies the allegations and blames Marsalek. He has been on the run since June 2020. He was last suspected in Russia.