Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun on Monday denied any involvement in the fraud that precipitated the company's downfall and spared his fugitive former right-hand man.
"
I reject all the charges
" against me, he declared immediately during his first testimony in this river trial started in mid-December before a court in Munich, responding in particular to the crime of fraud in an organized gang .
Dressed in a turtleneck sweater under a dark blue suit, as usual, the man with the emaciated face since his incarceration two and a half years ago traced his version of the story chronologically by digging into his "
precise memories
", without being dismantled in the face of the sometimes insistent questions of the judge.
The former CEO, on the other hand, felt “
a shock for the shareholders
” and “
the employees
” during the publication on June 18, 2020 of a press release from the company which revealed a gigantic scandal.
The leaders of Wirecard then admitted that 1.9 billion euros of assets, supposed to be in accounts in Asia, or a quarter of the balance sheet, did not actually exist.
Until the last moment, "
no one suspected that there was fraud, that the funds were not there
," said Markus Braun.
Suspected fraud
The company which offered online payment services had managed in less than two decades to become one of the stars of the Dax, the main index of the German Stock Exchange, where it weighed more than Deutsche Bank.
Central actor in the alleged fraud, the Austrian Jan Marsalek, in charge of operations and in particular of business development in Asia, has been on the run since June 2020.
With Jan Marsalek, Markus Braun remembers a "
very close
" relationship, including "
at the private level
" in the first years of service of the young manager, Austrian like him.
"
It sounds strange today but he had incredible energy
" to support the strong growth of the company, summed up the ex-boss.
Their relationship took a more “
professional
” turn when Jan Marsalek joined the management board in 2010.
Then things go wrong with suspicions of fraud on accounts with third parties in Asia during the years 2016 to 2018, as detailed in 2019 in the Financial Times.
To make things clear, an independent expertise will be entrusted to the audit firm KPMG, even if Jan Marsalek was opposed to it at the start.
Read alsoWirecard scandal trial: damning testimony against former boss Markus Braun
The problems came from the cases which were under
the “responsibility
” of Jan Marsalek, assured Markus Braun.
Illustration: at the beginning of 2020, in the midst of an investigation into suspicions of fraud in Asia, Jan Marsalek informed him that he had transferred, without warning, significant assets from Singapore to the Philippines.
Markus Braun asks him curtly if he "
lost his mind
".
Asked by the judge why he did not take matters into his own hands, Markus Braun argued that it was not the time to replace a member of the management board before the said suspicions were dispelled.
The priority was to "
close the lid
" on the subject, remembers Markus Braun.
Read alsoWirecard: the incredible scandal that shakes German finance
KPMG will say that it is in total unable to validate certain payment activities carried out by third-party companies on behalf of Wirecard, accelerating the descent into hell of “
fintech
”.
Markus Braun is judged alongside Stephan von Erffa, former chief accountant, and Oliver Bellenhaus, ex-director of a subsidiary based in Dubai, where he was in contact with third-party partners.
Oliver Bellenhaus, a key element for the prosecution, made detailed confessions during the investigation phase.
Markus Braun set up “
a system of organized fraud
” of which he himself was a link, he argued during a previous hearing.
The court has scheduled 100 hearing days until 2024 to try to shed light on this unprecedented financial scandal in Germany, which has splashed the economic and political world.