Jan Marsalek has been on the run since the payment service provider collapsed. He is considered the central figure in the billion dollar fraud.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf In the case of the fugitive former Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek, the German judiciary has made a request for legal assistance to the Russian government. The Munich I public prosecutor’s office wants to obtain the extradition of Marsalek. The “Bild” newspaper first reported on the process, citing government circles.
People familiar with the matter confirmed to the Handelsblatt that the report is correct. Neither the public prosecutor’s office nor Jan Marsalek’s defense attorney wanted to comment when asked.
The Munich public prosecutor’s office is said to have sent the detention request to the Russian authorities before the Easter holidays. In it, the investigators demanded that the Russian judiciary take Marsalek, who is wanted worldwide, from a hiding place in Moscow, arrest him and extradite him to Germany. The request contains the exact place where the 42-year-old escaped in January 2021.
Marsalek’s hideout is said to be near Moscow, provided by the Russian secret service. According to “Bild”, the whereabouts of the former Wirecard board member have been known to the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the Federal Chancellery since last year.
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Questionable role of the Federal Chancellery
According to the newspaper, the Munich investigators are said not to have been informed, but only found out about Marsalek’s whereabouts through the revelations in the newspaper.
When asked why the Federal Chancellery did not pass this information on to the investigators, a spokeswoman for the authorities did not want to comment. The Federal Chancellery initially left a request unanswered.
The Munich I public prosecutor sees Marsalek as one of the main culprits for the accounting scandal. The manager responsible for the Asian business is said to have smuggled huge sums out of the company through a confusing network of companies. The allegations include commercial gang fraud, a particularly serious case of infidelity and balance sheet falsification.
Marsalek is said to have known that a balance of 1.9 billion euros allegedly held in an escrow account with Philippine banks did not actually exist. In addition, the Austrian, together with his partner Henry O’Sullivan, is believed to have been behind the purchase of an Indian group of companies by Wirecard, with which he enriched himself.
Because of his escape, however, the authorities have refrained from accusing Marsalek. In mid-March, investigators filed a first charge in connection with the collapse of the payment processor almost two years ago. It is directed against the long-time CEO Markus Braun. Those accused with him are Oliver Bellenhaus, former governor of Wirecards in Dubai, and Stephan von Erffa, the former chief accountant and deputy chief financial officer.
Braun has been in custody since July 2020 and rejects the allegations. He presents himself as the victim of his board colleague and confidante Marsalek. The company Wirecard, which was listed in the Dax 30 at the time, had to file for bankruptcy in June 2020 due to a balance sheet deficit of 1.9 billion euros.
With agency material.
More: Wirecard’s India deal: authorities confiscate 25 million euros