In . – 12.21.2022 14:53 (act. 12.21.2022 14:53)
According to Wirecard’s main witness, Oliver Bellenhaus, the fraud started long before 2015. ©Christof STACHE / AFP
According to former manager Oliver Bellenhaus, who works in Dubai and is the main witness in the Wirecard fraud case, the alleged billionaire fraud involving the scandalous group began long before 2015.
According to manager Oliver Bellenhaus, who worked in Dubai until Wirecard’s collapse in 2020, the so-called third-party partner (TPA) business with payment service providers in the Middle East and Southeast Asia was largely invented from the ground up.
Wirecard fraud started before 2015, according to key witness Bellenhaus
“The data were never authentic,” Bellenhaus said on Wednesday before the Munich Regional Court. “There is no indication that Wirecard would have been profitable without the TPA business prior to 2015.”
Charges only go back to 2015
The indictment only dates back to 2015 because history has barred. Wirecard allegedly reserved fictitious funds of almost two billion euros through TPA partners, which were allegedly stored in trust accounts in Southeast Asia.
Bellenhaus accused the Austrian Markus Braun
Bellenhaus accused the former CEO, Austrian Markus Braun, of “gang leadership”. The main decisions were taken by Braun and Jan Marsalek, also an Austrian, who has been in hiding since the summer of 2020. As evidence, Bellenhaus referred to chat logs, according to which Braun would have given him instructions.
Serious allegations against the third defendant
Bellenhaus also made serious allegations against the third defendant, the group’s former head of accounting. This was a “conductor” of the fraud. According to the indictment, the three managers formed a gang along with other accomplices, falsified Wirecard balance sheets and damaged lending banks by 3.1 billion euros. 100 days of negotiations are scheduled until 2024. Braun and the former chief accountant deny the allegations.