High expenditure in the first quarter: Did Wirecard deliberately put millions aside?

Payment service provider Wirecard is said to have pumped unusually high millions into its network of partner companies in the first half of the year. The suspicion: Shortly before the balance sheet scandal emerged, a lot of money should be put aside. It is unclear where the million dollar loans went.

According to a media report, the insolvent payment service provider Wirecard could have stolen large sums of money shortly before the accounting scandal was uncovered. As the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ) reports, the group raised another 800 million euros from its banking consortium in the first half of 2020. In the same period, Wirecard also spent far more money than usual. Accordingly, several hundred million euros are being talked about in corporate circles, which have flowed as loans from Wirecard to related companies in the past few months. Companies in Asia that are at the center of the scandal together with the volatile ex-CEO Jan Marsalek and ex-CEO Markus Braun are also said to have been considered.

The suspicion does not seem unfounded. Because Marsalek and other Wirecard managers had to reckon with the fact that the alleged frauds would be uncovered by the special investigation of the auditing company KPMG, which was ongoing until April, writes the newspaper.

The public prosecutor's office is investigating Braun, Marsalek and other managers on suspicion of infidelity, falsification of accounts and stock market manipulation, among other things. It is also about the accusation that they should have embezzled more than half a billion euros through dubious lending. The focus is also on loans amounting to 365 million euros, which Wirecard granted to Al Alam (Dubai), Pay Easy (Manila) and O Cap Management (Singapore) before 2019. They are said to have helped Wirecard to fake nonexistent business in Asia. By the first half of 2020, the loans for these three companies and other partner companies are expected to have risen to almost 870 million euros.

Al Alam was suddenly liquidated in early May. What happened to the loans in the millions is still unclear. Pay Easy was operated by the allegedly late Christopher B. and his wife. B. was previously employed at Wirecard, as was the head of O Cap Management. With the help of the ex-managers, a network of companies around Wirecard is said to have emerged over the years.

While Wirecard apparently provided its partner companies with more and more loans, the group also obtained fresh money from its house banks. At the end of 2019, the provided credit line of 1.75 billion euros was not even half exhausted, writes the SZ. But when Wirecard filed for bankruptcy in June, the group suddenly had liabilities of 1.6 billion euros. Where the million loans from the first half of 2020 went is currently the subject of the investigation. Marsalek's lawyer did not want to comment on the "SZ" report. Braun's lawyers said their client rejects all allegations made against him.