For years, the Munich district court has been trying to clear up the Wirecard scandal in a mammoth trial. So far, it has been one person’s word against another’s. Now the proceedings are moving forward.
After more than a year and a half, a milestone has been reached in the Munich Wirecard trial: the third defendant E., who has remained silent since the trial began in December 2022, wants to testify for the first time on the charges on July 17. This date was announced by presiding judge Markus Födisch at the beginning of the 134th day of the trial. The former chief accountant of the group that collapsed in 2020 had confirmed his personal details at the start of the trial, but otherwise had not said a word on the matter in the course of the mammoth proceedings so far. The IV Criminal Division of the Munich Regional Court under Födisch’s leadership has promised E. a prison sentence of between six and eight years in return for a confession.
It is not yet clear whether the former chief accountant will admit or deny the charges in his statement. “Our client has decided to contribute to clarifying the facts,” said defense attorney Sabine Stetter. E. will describe “his view of things” and is prepared to answer questions from the court and the other parties involved in the proceedings.
The main charge against E., the former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun and the manager Oliver Bellenhaus, who worked for Wirecard in Dubai until 2020, is commercial gang fraud: The three, together with several accomplices, are said to have invented billions in sales in order to keep their actually loss-making company afloat.
In its indictment, the Munich public prosecutor’s office estimates the fraud damage at a good three billion euros. So far, the trial has been a case of one person’s word against another’s: Braun, the main defendant, who has been in custody for four years, denies all of the charges. Bellenhaus, on the other hand, has admitted to the majority of the charges.
Source: Stern
