Trading in Wirecard shares: head of the auditor supervision in criticism

Trading in Wirecard shares
Head of the auditor oversight in criticism

Observers speak of a "huge lack of instinct": Although the verdict on the Wirecard balance sheet is devastating, this does not prevent the head of the auditor supervision Apas from trading in the company's shares in the spring. Now there are calls for his resignation.

A few weeks before the collapse of Wirecard, the head of the auditor oversight, Apas, was still trading in shares in the payment processor. According to several participants, this came out during the night when Ralf Bose was questioned in the parliamentary committee of inquiry of the Bundestag. Several MPs called for a change in the head of the Apas.

Bose bought Wirecard shares on April 28, 2020 and sold them again on May 20, said FDP politician Florian Toncar. On April 28, the report on the special audit by the auditor KPMG was published, in which the auditor passed a damning verdict on Wirecard's balance sheets. The shares then crashed. In June, the former Dax company then went bankrupt when air bookings worth billions were confirmed.

The Munich public prosecutor's office is now accusing ex-boss Markus Braun and other Wirecard managers of commercial gang fraud, falsification of accounts and market manipulation. The company is said to have worked its way up nicely for years, inflicting billions in losses on investors and banks. "Private share transactions with Wirecard shares just at the time when their own authority is investigating the company's auditor is a huge lack of instinct," said Toncar. "The Apas now needs a fresh start at the top."

Fabio De Masi from the Left, like Toncar, was a co-initiator of the U-Committee. He spoke of an unbelievable process and demanded the dismissal of the head of the authorities. Toncar also targeted Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier. The CDU politician must be accused of having only an unsuitable set of rules for the Apas to prevent conflicts of interest and insider trading. "And not even that was controlled in any way by the ministry."

Altmaier: "That alienated me"

Altmaier himself announced that he wanted to critically question Bose's Wirecard stock transactions. "That alienated me," said the CDU politician in the morning. But he only got to know about it that night. "We'll talk to those involved." It is checked whether rules have been observed – and whether there must be consequences. But take care before rushing shots.

In the spectacular accounting scandal, Apas recently raised allegations against the auditor Ernst & Young (EY) and turned on the public prosecutor's office. EY had audited Wirecard's books for years. De Masi said that Apas had been inactive towards EY for a long time. You justified this with the special audit by KPMG, which should be awaited. The Bonn financial supervisory authority Bafin, which is accused of failure in the Wirecard scandal, recently banned its employees from certain private share transactions. Bafin employees traded more and more with Wirecard papers in the months before the bankruptcy

. (tagsToTranslate) Wirtschaft (t) Wirecard (t) German Bundestag (t) Auditor (t) Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (t) Peter Altmaier