Ex-Wirecard CEO Markus Braun (centre) has been in custody for almost three years. His main defense attorney is Alfred Dierlamm (left), one of the best-known criminal lawyers in this country.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf, Munich His move should be something like the turning point in the spectacular criminal proceedings surrounding the multi-billion dollar balance sheet scandal at Wirecard. Alfred Dierlamm leaves no doubt about that.
With pithy words, the defense attorney for the long-standing Wirecard boss Markus Braun begins his two-hour lecture this Thursday before the Munich Regional Court. A real clarification has not taken place so far and is obviously not wanted either, the lawyer argues.
This does not happen officially, and after the Wirecard insolvency administrator recently said that there was “no trace” of the Wirecard billions, that the money was “fictitious and lies”, it was now time to submit formal applications for evidence to provide clarification of the facts.
Since the beginning of December, Markus Braun has had to answer to the district court together with the former Wirecard governor in Dubai, Oliver Bellenhaus, and the ex-chief accountant Stephan von Erffa. The public prosecutor accuses them of commercial gang fraud, serious breach of trust, incorrect presentation of Wirecard’s annual financial statements and market manipulation.
Investigators are convinced that the allegedly most important part of the deal, the so-called third party business, did not exist. They rely primarily on corresponding statements by Bellenhaus.
Braun under increasing pressure in the process
The alleged third party business is at the center of the proceedings. In countries without its own licenses, according to Braun, Wirecard processed payment transactions via local partners and received commissions for this. Wirecard allegedly deposited 1.9 billion euros with two Philippine banks to secure the transactions. The sum, however, is still untraceable to this day.
Things did not go well for Braun during the six months of the trial. So far, the court has left little doubt about Bellenhaus’s descriptions, but several times about those of Braun.
Braun’s theory and that of his lawyers is clear: “There was the business, there were also billions, and you don’t have to travel around the world to find them,” Dierlamm said on Thursday. For him, Braun is the victim of a criminal gang around the fugitive ex-CEO Jan Marsalek and Bellenhaus. They are said to have diverted money from the so-called third-party business and managed it into their own pockets via “embezzlement companies”.
This narrative is not new. But with the new applications for evidence, the lawyer wants to underpin his theory. He wants to submit documents on more than 1500 pages, including account data and movements as well as e-mails. The evaluation of 500,000 e-mails, of which around 20 to 30 percent have currently been viewed, confirms Braun’s defense in her picture, according to Dierlamm.
“Big Bohei About Nothing”
The defender of Bellenhaus’ key witness, Florian Eder, who was sharply attacked by Dierlamm, is meanwhile relaxed. For him, Wirecard’s insolvency administrator, Michael Jaffé, is probably the “most objective and sustainable source” because he is “on the money trail”.
The last report by the insolvency administrator was very clear in this regard: “‘Discharges’ at corresponding levels leave traces, although not a single one can be found,” comments Eder on the Handelsblatt request. He therefore evaluates Dierlamm’s advance as a “big Bohei about nothing”. It is “the motto to discredit the ‘key witness’ in every way”.
In a written statement to the Handelsblatt, Jaffé reacted more cautiously, but also clearly. Both Braun and his lawyers have so far refused to cooperate constructively with the insolvency administrator, he writes. Meaningful documents or information have not yet been made available.
In a new status report, Jaffé recently stated again and again that from his perspective the third-party business did not exist. There is “not a single verifiable indication that the third-party business mentioned by Mr. Braun ever existed,” said Jaffé.
Defeat in dispute with insurer
Meanwhile, Markus Braun is also under pressure in another area: the assumption of the costs for his lawyers and consultants. Braun has just lost a legal dispute with his manager liability insurance for the payment of another ten million euros. The district court in Düsseldorf dismissed an action brought by Braun against the insurer Swiss Re. Braun’s lawyers have already announced that they intend to appeal the verdict.
More: First insurance from Wirecard managers announces the end of payments