Hunt for Former Wirecard Board Member
Jan Marsalek has been on the run ever since the payment service provider collapsed. He is considered the central figure in the billion dollar fraud.
(Photo: DPA)
Düsseldorf The German judiciary has made a request for legal assistance to the Russian government in the case of fugitive former Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek. The Munich Public Prosecutor I wants to obtain Marsalek’s extradition. The Bild newspaper first reported on the process, citing government circles.
People familiar with the matter confirmed to Handelsblatt that the report is correct. Neither the prosecution nor Jan Marsalek’s defense attorney declined to comment when asked.
The Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office reportedly sent the arrest warrant to Russian authorities before the Easter break. In it, investigators demanded that the Russian judiciary take Marsalek, wanted around the world, from a hiding place in Moscow, arrest him and extradite him to Germany. The order contains the exact location to which the 42-year-old escaped in January 2021.
Marsalek’s hideout is said to be near Moscow, provided by the Russian secret service. According to “Bild”, the whereabouts of the former Wirecard adviser has been known to the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the Federal Chancellery since last year.
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Questionable role of the Federal Chancellery
According to the newspaper, the Munich investigators did not know, but only discovered Marsalek’s whereabouts through the newspaper’s revelations.
When asked why the Federal Chancellery did not pass this information on to investigators, a spokeswoman for the authorities declined to comment. The Federal Chancellery has so far left an inquiry unanswered.
Munich’s public prosecutor I sees Marsalek as one of the main culprits in the accounting scandal. The manager in charge of the Asian business reportedly smuggled huge sums out of the company through a confusing network of companies. Allegations include commercial gang fraud, a particularly serious case of infidelity and balance sheet falsification.
Marsalek is said to have known that a balance of 1.9 billion euros allegedly held in an escrow account with Philippine banks did not actually exist. Furthermore, the Austrian, along with his partner Henry O’Sullivan, is believed to be behind Wirecard’s purchase of an Indian group of companies, with which he became wealthy.
Because of his escape, however, the authorities refrained from prosecuting Marsalek. In mid-March, investigators filed an initial indictment relating to the payment processor’s meltdown nearly two years ago. It is directed against longtime CEO Markus Braun. He is accused of Oliver Bellenhaus, former governor of Wirecards in Dubai, and Stephan von Erffa, former chief accountant and deputy chief financial officer.
Braun has been in custody since July 2020 and rejects the charges. He poses as the victim of his fellow councilor and confidant Marsalek. The Wirecard company, which was listed on the Dax 30 at the time, had to file for bankruptcy in June 2020 due to a balance sheet deficit of 1.9 billion euros.
With agency material.
More: Wirecard agreement with India: Authority confiscates 25 million euros.