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Wirecard headquarters in Aschheim: Believed in Wirecard's business model
Photo: Sven Simon / imago images
The head of the auditor oversight, Apas, traded shares in the scandal company during the agency's investigation into the Wirecard scandal.
He bought the shares on April 28, 2020 and sold them again on May 20, said the head of the authorities on Friday night, according to participants in the Bundestag's investigative committee.
At the beginning of May, the supervisory authority initiated formal professional supervision proceedings against the Wirecard auditors from EY.
Previously, preliminary investigations were running.
On April 28, the stock exchange price of Wirecard crashed after the auditing company KPMG had revealed in a special report that there was no evidence of the existence of alleged customer relationships and the revenues generated by the aspiring tech group.
He believed in Wirecard's business model, said the head of the authority, according to participants in the committee.
Whether it was due to the opening of the formal proceedings against EY that he sold the shares again after a short time remained open at first.
"From my point of view, he cannot stay in office," commented FDP finance politician Florian Toncar on the statement made by the head of the authorities.
He criticized that there were insufficient compliance rules for the auditor oversight.
Now it is the turn of Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU), whose ministry is responsible for supervision.
“He's got to keep the Apas hard.
It's bad enough that he hasn't long since put in place an appropriate set of rules. "
Green chairman Danyal Bayaz made a similar statement.
"How Apas and their responsible minister Altmaier come to the conclusion that the supervisory activities of the authority for the Wirecard final audits are free of errors remains completely incomprehensible, according to their statements in the investigative committee," said Bayaz.
"The Wirecard scandal and the reappraisal in the committee of inquiry already teach us that we must not rule out what would normally be excluded."
The economics minister addressed was alienated on Friday morning about the activities of the head of the agency.
But he only got to know about it that night.
"We'll talk to those involved." This will check whether rules have been followed - and whether there are any consequences.
But take care before rushing shots.
Left chairman Fabio De Masi spoke of an incredible process and also called for the head of the authorities to be dismissed.
Apas is criticized in the Wirecard case because it did not initiate formal proceedings against EY until summer 2020, although the fraud allegations had hardened months earlier.
The EY auditors had approved the balance sheets of the former Dax group Wirecard for years.
In the meantime, Wirecard has allowed air bookings of almost two billion euros.
The group is said to have reported fictitious profits since 2015.
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