After two years behind bars, disgraced ex-Wirecard chief executive Markus Braun appeared in a bombproof, high-security Munich court on Thursday for the first day in Germany’s largest-ever corporate fraud trial.
Wearing a black suit, turtleneck and rimless glasses, Mr Braun denied any knowledge of or involvement in a €1.9 billion accounting fraud that brought down the electronic payments firm in June 2020.
In Munich’s wood-panelled Stadelheim courtroom, windowless venue of choice for terrorism and organised crime trials, the crowd was so great that the first day of proceedings began with a 45-minute delay.
Mr Braun spoke only to confirm his identity – “absolutely correct” -, then listened intently as prosecutors began reading an 89-page summary of their 474-page indictment.
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The 53 year-old Austrian-born manager and two former Wirecard colleagues – ex-accounting boss Stephan von Erffa and Oliver Bellenhaus, the former head of Wirecard’s Dubai subsidiary – face charges of commercial fraud, breach of trust, market manipulation and accounts manipulation.
If found guilty, Mr Braun and Mr von Erffa could face up to 15 years in prison. Mr Bellenhaus is likely to face a milder sentence as he has already admitted wrongdoing and will be a key witness for the prosecution.
In 700 binders of documents, prosecutors accuse Mr Braun of knowingly presenting fabricated financial results to make his firm appear more successful. At one point Wirecard was worth €24 billion and hailed as Germany’s biggest tech player – until Financial Times journalists began questioning its business model and accounts.
With 100 trial dates fixed in Munich, a verdict is not expected before 2024.
Munich public prosecutors say Wirecard managers, over at least five years, knowingly created an elaborate web of phantom transactions with dubious firms linked to the company in Singapore, Dubai and the Philippines.
“With these agreements, the gang members laid the foundation for the crimes of false representation, market manipulation, commercial gang fraud and breach of trust,” said chief prosecutor Matthias Bühring.
Hanging over the first day’s proceedings was the absent former chief operating officer Jan Marsalek. Blamed by Braun for the entire fraud, Marsalek is on the run from authorities and reportedly living under an assumed identity in Russia.
