The clarification depends on tax attorney Hanno Berger and witness Oliver Bellenhaus

Dusseldorf The Cum-Ex and Wirecard scandals are the two largest and most publicized white-collar crime cases in recent years. And in these weeks there is a lot of movement in both cases: On the one hand, Hanno Berger, the “idea generator” of the billion-dollar tax evasion scandal Cum-Ex has been in court since last Monday. On the other hand, Markus Braun, the former CEO of Wirecard AG, which went under with a crash, is now officially accused.

In this episode of Handelsblatt Crime, which was recorded live in the studio with viewers of the Handelsblatt business club on Friday, moderators Ina Karabasz and Mary-Ann Abdelaziz-Ditzow spoke with investigative chief Sönke Iwersen about the trial of Hanno Berger and the Key witnesses spoken in the Wirecard case: Oliver Bellenhaus.

Hanno Berger: The page changer

Hanno Berger’s professional life can be divided into four acts. First he served the German state, then he robbed it, then Berger hid from him. Now the final section has begun. Berger has to answer for what he did.

Berger was arrested in Switzerland in July 2021 and extradited to Germany in February 2022. He is now in the dock of the Bonn Regional Court. This episode of Handelsblatt Crime deals with the question of what awaits him there – and whether it really helps that Berger calls the judicial representatives “pig judges”.

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Oliver Bellenhaus: head of the “counterfeiting workshop”

Oliver Bellenhaus has a dual role in the Wirecard scandal. The 48-year-old is on the one hand the target of the prosecution in Germany, on the other hand he is also a key witness. Bellenhaus voluntarily left his luxury apartment in Dubai in July 2020 to face the public prosecutor in Munich. Then he unpacked.

Bellenhaus was head of the “counterfeiting workshop”, as the Wirecard subsidiary in Dubai was called internally. In consultation with ex-board member Jan Marsalek, he invented transactions via a network of letterbox companies in order to beautify Wirecard’s numbers. Bellenhaus said: “We built a company that was real. Except for the sales.”

More: You can hear the previous episode of Handelsblatt Crime here.

Handelsblatt Crime appears every 14 days and can be heard wherever there are podcasts.

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