Mammoth process
Court extends Wirecard process until the end of 2025
The Wirecard trial will enter its third year in 2025 – there is no date for the verdict yet.
The Munich I Regional Court has extended the Wirecard trial, which is the largest economic fraud in Germany since 1945, for another year. The chamber has scheduled 83 more days of hearings until December 18, 2025, as a court spokesman announced upon request. The criminal trial against former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun and his two co-defendants was opened two years ago; so far there have been 168 trial days and over 140 witness interviews.
What is not controversial in the Wirecard case is that criminal fraudsters were at work in the management of the DAX group, which collapsed in 2020. According to the indictment, the perpetrators fabricated billions in sales for years in order to keep the actually loss-making payment service provider afloat. The Munich public prosecutor’s office estimates the damage to the lending banks at a good three billion euros.
No verdict yet in sight
However, it is controversial who the perpetrators were. Braun, who has been in custody for four and a half years, categorically rejects all allegations and, for his part, blames a group of perpetrators around ex-board member Jan Marsalek, who went into hiding, and co-defendant Oliver Bellenhaus. Bellenhaus, on the other hand, has repeatedly accused Braun of being significantly involved.
Apart from that, the main reason why the process takes so long is that the facts of the case are extremely complicated. The chamber is investigating thousands of documents in the trial files: suspected fictitious contracts, emails, real as well as suspected forged payment receipts and other documents from several countries. According to the court spokesman, it is not yet possible to predict whether the chamber will make a judgment in the course of next year.
dpa
Source: Stern
