Central statement in process
Key witness: Wirecard “third-party partners” were invented
01/11/2023 2:18 p.m
In the legal processing of the Wirecard scandal, ex-manager and key witness Bellenhaus makes it clear: the business with so-called third-party partners – and the billions in bookings associated with it – was invented in panic in front of the auditors. The role of ex-CEO Braun is still unclear.
In the Munich Wirecard trial, the key witness for the public prosecutor’s office comprehensively confirmed the central allegation of the prosecution: The alleged billions in sales of the DAX group, which collapsed in 2020, with “third-party partners” in the Middle East and Asia were therefore fictitious. The former Wirecard manager Oliver Bellenhaus described in detail the falsification of business contracts and sales. “Of course we came up with that,” said Bellenhaus on the sixth day of the trial about the billions in escrow accounts in Southeast Asia. When asked by the court whether the third-party business existed, Bellenhaus said: “I answer very clearly: no.”
The payment service provider had filed for bankruptcy in the summer of 2020 because allegedly 1.9 billion euros booked in the escrow accounts could not be found. The “third-party partners” were companies that allegedly processed credit card payments on behalf of Wirecard in countries where the Bavarian group itself did not have a corresponding license. The only goal was to deceive the auditors. “The auditor needed something, and then the panic ensued,” said Bellenhaus. “It was huge chaos, it was all chaos.” CEO Markus Braun never asked when he signed – fake – contracts.
According to the indictment, Braun, Bellenhaus and the former head of accounting have falsified Wirecard’s balance sheets since 2015 and damaged lending banks by 3.1 billion euros. According to Bellenhaus, former sales director Jan Marsalek, who has been in hiding since 2020, the chief accountant and himself were directly involved in the falsification of contracts, documents and sales data.
“No one ever spoke to me”
It is not yet clear what role Braun played in the process, which was scheduled to last more than 100 days. The ex-CEO has denied the allegations against his defense attorneys and sees himself as a victim of the scammers at his company. In the process, the Austrian manager is due to testify for the first time next week.
According to the indictment, a gang was at work at Wirecard that systematically cheated banks and investors. A conviction of Braun as a gang leader or member would require that the CEO personally controlled the fraud or actively participated in it. According to Bellenhaus’ description, the company was silent about the criminal nature of the business: “No one ever spoke to me (about the fraud).” The realization that the third-party business had been invented only came to him over the years. “That’s how it turned out.”
Bellenhaus therefore hoped for a return to legality, instead, according to his statement, the phantom deals were getting bigger: “At some point you lost control, it was just too late.” As a “money-burning machine”, Wirecard has been making losses since 2013 because the company was no longer able to cover the rapidly increasing costs. “Millions went out, you can’t count it that quickly.”