After ex-Wirecard boss Braun almost completely refused to take part in the investigation committee, a witness caused astonishment: He asked for forgiveness. The committee can record a success. Three accused publicly announced that they would cooperate with the public prosecutor's office.
About 45 minutes are missing until midnight, when Oliver Bellenhaus appears on the screen of a live broadcast from Bavaria in a building of the Bundestag. You can see immediately that he is connected from a prison. There are bars in front of a window in the sparsely furnished room in which the 47-year-old is with his lawyer. The dreary wall color is typical prison yellow. Bellenhaus looks like someone who handles psychological stress. Little does one suspect that just a few months ago he was a high-earning top manager of a corporation that attracted investors. He looks emaciated, has a three-day beard, short hair and a black T-shirt. When asked about his current registration address, he says: "Currently residing in the JVA Stadelheim in Munich."
The detainee was once the representative of Wirecard in Dubai. He had a significant share in profits that turned out to be appearance instead of being. After the bankruptcy of the group, he surrendered to German investigators in July and made a comprehensive confession. Since then he has been called a key witness by the public prosecutor. The fact that he is serious about helping to clear up the greatest balance sheet fraud of the German post-war period is shown by a gesture right at the beginning of a brief personal statement as a witness before the investigative committee that dealt with the Wirecard debacle.
"A huge disaster, nothing can be glossed over"
Before Bellenhaus announces that he will make use of his right to refuse to give evidence as a suspect and asks to be questioned by the committee later, he thanks for the opportunity to make an initial statement. He says: "I would like to take the opportunity to apologize to you as a representative of the public as well as to the injured party." He calls the "matter to be clarified" "a huge disaster that cannot be glossed over by anything".
This makes the witness the first Wirecard top manager to regret the loss of reputation for Germany as a business location and the billions in losses for investors in front of an audience. Members of the coalition and the opposition give him great credit for his admission and agree with his wish to end the interrogations with the public prosecutor's office first and then to answer questions from the committee. That should also be in the interests of the investigators in Munich, who otherwise would have to fear that statements by Bellenhaus would become known to other accused too early. MPs from all parliamentary groups believe Bellenhaus' promise not to cheat and actually give concrete information about the scandal in Berlin at the end of January.
"The injured party can't buy anything," says Matthias Hauer of the CDU about the apology and adds with artificial severity: "That doesn't mean that we treat him differently. But we can make more substantive statements at the end of January calculate than with Dr. Braun. " In fact, the contrast could not have been greater between the statements by Bellenhaus and the former CEO Markus Braun, who was heard as a witness at the beginning of the meeting from 1.30 p.m.
Braun annoys the parliamentarians
Braun also referred to the fact that as a suspect in criminal proceedings that could end with tens of years in prison for him, he did not have to say anything that could incriminate him. The 51-year-old had tried before the Federal Court of Justice to ban his interrogation in Berlin – he had justified the request with the corona risk. A brief personal statement was in line with his previous line of rejecting all allegations and portraying himself as a victim. He apparently considers the accusation of fraud to be generally unfounded. He spoke of "misappropriated corporate funds". In addition, he refused to answer almost any question, even about his doctorate or corporate policy.
It was the way in which Braun persistently angered the parliamentarians, so it is clear that the committee will use legal means to force the former CEO to make statements. After the 14-hour session, the Left MP Fabio De Masi expressed himself with a mix of pity and contempt. Alluding to Braun's origins in Austria, he says: "The little pile of misery has shown that a former Alpine Steve Jobs can very quickly melt into a very unfortunate figure."
Bellenhaus versus Braun
His Greens colleague Danyal Bayaz points out the difference in "pitch and habit" between Bellenhaus and Braun. "We are absolutely convinced that we will see Mr. Braun again." Florian Toncar, who is a member of the committee for the FDP and is himself a lawyer, emphasizes that, of course, the witness has the right to refuse statements that could incriminate him. "He has clearly gone beyond the limits of what is permissible" and could have spoken about his contacts in politics or with regulatory and supervisory authorities. From Toncar's point of view, Braun only shows his character: "He doesn't feel bound by rules or believes he can define them."
Regardless of the outrage, the committee – especially the opposition – can write on the flag that three former Wirecard top managers have now publicly announced that they are cooperating with the criminal investigators. Braun also announced this to the public's surprise, and when asked, he added: this would be conceivable from this Friday. A third witness, who, according to De Masi, "wanted to sue the panel last week," also announced that he would soon testify before the public prosecutor and then appear before the Bundestag committee at the end of January.
"The committee will no longer be held responsible for obstructing the prosecution's investigation. Today we promoted them," said De Masi. Bayaz even believes that the work of the MPs has given the prosecution "a shot of motivation to investigate more quickly".
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