The payment service provider Wirecard is again struggling with serious fraud allegations as a result of a report by the Financial Times. The British business paper had reported on internal documents and correspondence that suggested that the group had over-reported sales and profits at its subsidiaries.
As a result of the report, Dax-listed shares temporarily fell 23 percent to a six-month low of EUR 107.80. Meanwhile, the prices were able to recover slightly.
The Financial Times focuses its reporting on Dubai-based Al Alam Solutions. Accordingly, in 2016, half of Wirecard's profits were received through this company. The internal documents refer to 34 key customers for whom payments in the amount of EUR 350 million were regularly made on behalf of Wirecard between 2016 and 2017.
However, 15 of the 34 major customers told the Wirtschaftsblatt that they had never heard of Al Alam Solutions. Therefore, the Financial Times suspects that many of the payment transactions would not have taken place. In addition, the documents would give the impression that Wirecard had tried to deceive the auditor EY. The company categorically rejected the allegations in a statement saying "slanderous article".
The "Financial Times" has repeatedly accused the company from Aschheim near Munich of criminal activities and triggered price drops. Wirecard and the German Financial Supervisory Authority BaFin have the suspicion that speculators falling on price would have benefited from it. For this reason, BaFin banned so-called short sales of Wirecard shares in the spring for a period of two months.
