The financial regulator Bafin and customs investigate questionable payments at Wirecard. It could be money laundering in several dozen cases. A former board member is also suspected.
The Wirecard scandal is added one chapter: After the billion-dollar balance sheet fraud, there is now suspicion of money laundering. The Federal Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz said last week at the special meeting of the Finance Committee, the "Handelsblatt" reported.
According to the newspaper, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), located at customs, has received more than 500 suspicious transaction reports from the Wirecard Bank in recent years. These were aimed at the company's customers. In addition, there are several dozen notices that are directed against the payment service provider. "There would be 72 reports in a possible connection with the current allegations against Wirecard," the paper quotes from a document from the Ministry of Finance for the Finance Committee. Several indications were directed against a former Wirecard board.
The now insolvent payment service provider Wirecard granted air bookings of 1.9 billion euros in June. The Munich public prosecutor is now assuming a "commercial gang fraud" at the Dax company, and has been since 2015. More than three billion euros could be lost.
Meanwhile, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) and the FIU have set up a joint task force to deal with the Wirecard scandal. The working group should ensure "smooth and immediate communication", said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Finance. This should lead to faster results and support other government agencies.
. (tagsToTranslate) Economy (t) Wirecard (t) Olaf Scholz