Before Easter, the public prosecutor’s office sent a request for arrest to the Kremlin, reports the “Bild” newspaper (Tuesday edition), citing government circles. It therefore contains the request for the arrest and extradition of the Austrian to Germany.
In addition, the exact escape location from January 2021 should also be included. The Munich I public prosecutor’s office said on request that it was not possible to comment on international legal assistance measures.
Marsalek has been in hiding since the summer of 2020 and is believed to be in Russia. He is a key figure in the scandal surrounding the financial service provider Wirecard, which collapsed shortly after he went into hiding. According to the newspaper, Marsalek is said to be in a hiding place of the Russian secret service FSB.
Largest case of fraud in post-war history
According to “Bild”, two Munich public prosecutors were said to have been to the BND headquarters in Berlin before Easter to inspect secret files on Marsalek. According to the newspaper, Russia is said to have offered Germany a long time ago to interrogate Marsalek, but the Munich public prosecutor’s office did not receive the offer. According to “Spiegel”, the BND is said to have rejected this offer because of concerns.
The collapse of Wirecard is considered the largest case of fraud in German post-war history. In the meantime, the Munich public prosecutor’s office has indicted the former CEO Markus Braun, also an Austrian, and two other former top managers. Since 2015, they are said to have falsified balance sheets and damaged lending banks by a total of EUR 3.1 billion – of which EUR 1.7 billion was in loans and another EUR 1.4 billion in bonds. Braun’s defense attorneys, however, protested his innocence.
1.9 billion euros gone
According to the indictment, the Wirecard balance sheets from 2015 to 2018 were incorrect – an audited balance sheet for 2019 was no longer available. In June 2020, Wirecard, once considered a German technology flagship company, filed for bankruptcy. The triggers were missing 1.9 billion euros that were allegedly booked in trust accounts.
According to investigations, however, these were bogus bookings on a large scale. As a payment service provider, Wirecard processed credit card payments at checkouts and in online retail. The allegedly non-existent billions were booked as income from partner companies that allegedly processed payments on behalf of Wirecard.
Not only banks and investors were harmed by the collapse, but also tens of thousands of shareholders. After its promotion to the DAX on the stock exchange in 2018, Wirecard was temporarily worth over 20 billion euros.
Source: Nachrichten
