Wirecard's imprisoned ex-boss: The new booth magic of Dr. brown

Thursday 10 December 2020

Wirecard's imprisoned ex-boss
The new booth magic of Dr. brown

By Thomas Schmoll

The former Wirecard CEO Braun surprisingly announced some time ago that he wanted to cooperate with the public prosecutor. To this day, it is unclear whether he was serious or whispered. He is threatened with another summons to the Bundestag.

When the Left Bundestag member Fabio De Masi was finally annoyed about Markus Braun's behavior, he asked questions that had nothing to do with the Wirecard scandal. He wanted to know from the witness: "What is the title of your doctoral thesis?" And in general: "Have you made something of your life?" But the imprisoned ex-CEO of the former Dax group used his right to remain silent. He is entitled to it because he does not need to take the risk of incriminating himself.

Of the 83 questions that Braun had been asked in the committee of inquiry into the Wirecard scandal, he left 80 unanswered. But one of his three brief statements was tough. After the Austrian had surprisingly announced coram publico that he was ready to cooperate with the Munich public prosecutor's office investigating him, De Masi asked: Does that mean that he would speak to the prosecution the next day. Braun said briefly and painlessly: "Yes."

"After all, the would-be Alpine Steve Jobs buckled under pressure," said De Masi. "I was able to elicit from him that he wanted to testify immediately before the public prosecutor." The left-wing politician knows the hook on the announcement all too well. Nobody knows what Braun's statement actually meant, whether he wanted to show goodwill in public or to pretend that he wanted to come to terms with the biggest accounting fraud scandal of the post-war period. The witness made it clear: First he would talk to the criminal investigators, then maybe next year before the parliamentary investigators.

That was three weeks ago. Since then, there has been a lot of guesswork. "So far it is not publicly known what he is doing," said De Masi. It will be shown whether the detainee "lied again". If he speaks to the prosecutors, the question is what exactly. "Because Braun sees himself as a victim of fraud and hopes to be convicted only for market manipulation. In his opinion, the board, supervisory authorities, auditors and politicians are all victims of Jan Marsalek," the former Wirecard board member who probably fled to Russia. "That is unbelievable."

"No signs of unpacking"

The public prosecutor's office in Munich informed ntv.de on request that it was "in close coordination with the accused's defense lawyers" with regard to the announced willingness to testify before the investigators. A spokeswoman said there were "interrogations in preparation". As before, no specific statements were made for tactical reasons. "Of course we cannot foresee the extent of the information he (Braun) intends to provide, nor can we foresee whether it will be accompanied by a full cooperation." Alfred Dierlamm, defense lawyer for the accused, did not want to comment. In a reply email he only asked to respect the presumption of innocence.

Several committee members, with whom ntv.de spoke on the subject, do not expect any significant contribution to clearing up the Wirecard debacle or even a confession – if Braun speaks to the prosecutors at all. MPs confirmed that the public prosecutor's office had recently announced that the accused had not yet got involved. "Nothing has happened yet," said Hans Michelbach, who represents the CSU on the committee. His SPD counterpart Jens Zimmermann said: "There are no signs that he is unpacking. Braun's thin statement was probably part of his strategy to see himself as a victim."

In fact, the failed manager gave an idea of ​​what his defense strategy might look like in a possible process through his brief opening statement to the scouts. The public prosecutor's office is investigating him for gang fraud. The ex-Wirecard boss had stated that he had "at no time made any statements or received any information that authorities, supervisory bodies or politicians had behaved incorrectly, in breach of duty or in any form unfairly". This also applies to the "massively deceived" supervisory board and the auditors. "Manager Magazin" commented: "Now we know how Markus Braun wants to save his head."

The committee of inquiry does not want to let Braun get away with it so easily. According to its chairman Kay Gottschalk from the AfD, the committee had asked the public prosecutor's office to comment on whether the Austrian should at least answer the questions that had nothing to do with his proceedings. "We had hoped for the answer from Munich: 'Of course, the brown can testify, that will even count towards him positively.' But the prosecution did not want to comment on this for understandable reasons. " In other words: the criminal investigators did not want to get involved in the events in Berlin.

New appearance in the U committee questionable

According to Gottschalk, the deadline for the prisoner on remand in which he should make a "credible" statement on every single question asked in the committee as to why he did not want to answer it expires this week. "Then we will decide whether we will reload it. If its reasons are not sufficient, I refer to the old adage: Seeing again is a pleasure." The committee will probably make the decision next Thursday.

"I don't think we will hear or see anything from Mr. Braun again," said Zimmermann. Michelbach is not so sure: "We are still waiting to see whether he has led the public behind the spruce again." According to the CSU MP, Braun should explain "whether he will testify or not" by next Thursday. If not, he will be invited to Berlin again. If he is fully involved with the public prosecutor's office, he no longer has any reason to remain silent in the committee. "We don't like being fooled."