More executives charged over German Wirecard scandal

Alexander von Knoop, who was chief financial officer, and Susanne Steidl, ex-head of product development, have been accused of embezzlement

By AFP

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This file photo taken on September 2, 2020, shows the logo of German payments provider Wirecard at a building of the company's headquarters in Aschheim near Munich, southern Germany. — AFP file

Published: Tue 6 Aug 2024, 4:18 PM

Last updated: Tue 6 Aug 2024, 4:19 PM

Two more former senior executives have been charged in relation to the dramatic collapse of the German payments firm Wirecard in a massive accounting fraud, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Alexander von Knoop, who was chief financial officer, and Susanne Steidl, ex-head of product development, have been accused of embezzlement over the scandal.

"The two defendants each breached their obligations to Wirecard in an obvious and serious manner," said the Munich prosecutor's office in a statement.

The actions caused the company "losses of several hundred million euros", it added.

A court in Munich, where Wirecard was headquartered, will now decide whether they go on trial.

The once celebrated company imploded in June 2020 after it was forced to admit that 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in cash, meant to be sitting in trustee accounts in Asia, didn't actually exist.

Several senior figures from the company, including ex-CEO Markus Braun, are currently on trial over the scandal.

Von Knoop and Steidl allegedly failed to stop about 40 million euros from being sent to a Singapore-based company called Ruprecht in 2019.

They followed a "meaningless proposal" from fellow Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek without carefully looking into it, according to the indictment. The money then disappeared.

Marsalek, a shadowy figure with ties to foreign intelligence services, is a key figure in the scandal but evaded arrest after the company's collapse and remains at large.

The pair are also alleged to have extended a large loan to another Singapore-based company, OCAP, which was supposed to send money to merchants in connection with credit card transactions.

They approved the loan on the basis of "inconsistent and unsubstantiated verbal information", according to prosecutors.

In 2019, OCAP received a further 100 million euros from Wirecard despite already owing large sums. Crucially, Wirecard's supervisory board was not involved in that decision, according to the indictment.