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Manager Braun before the investigative committee of the Bundestag
Photo: Pool/Getty Images
The Munich I district court has issued a new arrest warrant against the former head of the scandalous Wirecard group.
The Munich public prosecutor's office requested the order after filing charges against Braun on March 9.
The step is not unusual, prosecutors often specify their allegations in a new arrest application after the provisional conclusion of their investigations.
However, with the district court's decision to grant this application, the likelihood that the charges against Braun will be admitted and that the 52-year-old Austrian will have to appear in court before the end of the year increases.
The same criminal court decides on the admission, which now affirms an urgent suspicion against Braun in the new arrest warrant.
The so-called interim proceedings are still ongoing: Braun's lawyers have once again explained in an almost 300-page brief why they consider the ex-boss innocent.
The public prosecutor's office is likely to respond with a reply.
Both sides have already exchanged their arguments in the course of the investigations and regular detention reviews.
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Those involved in the proceedings believe it is likely that the trial will take place in the fall if the court allows the indictment before the summer break.
Braun was arrested for the first time in June 2020 a few days after the fraud was exposed at the then Dax group and has been in custody for almost two years.
In addition to Braun, the former head of accounting Stephan von Erffa and Oliver Bellenhaus, governor of Wirecard in Dubai, are accused.
They recently did not comment, referring to the ongoing proceedings.
More than 20 suspects are still under investigation.
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