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Shortly before the bankruptcy of the payment service provider Wirecard, the Federal Ministry of Finance was considering using taxpayers' money to save the company from final collapse.
After air bookings in the amount of 1.9 billion euros had become known, it should have been about loans or guarantees from the state development bank KfW or its subsidiary IPEX Bank.
For Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD), this is not without explosiveness, as the opposition feels reinforced in its long-expressed suspicion that in the Wirecard case all warning signals were ignored not only among shareholders and auditors, but also in the federal government;
they simply did not want to give up the idea of an important German player in the booming market for online payment services.
This is one of the reasons why the ministry and the financial supervisory authority that reports to it Bafin did not pursue the allegations of balance sheet manipulation with the necessary effort.
According to the Reuters news agency, Jörg Kukies, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, sent a nine-page document a few hours after the momentous Wirecard press release at 2:48 a.m. on June 22, in which the former DAX company admitted the lack of 1.9 billion euros to Scholz, in which arguments for possible state aid were presented.
A “bank run” could lead Wirecard to liquidity problems.
The company is also an important provider of payment services, including for the discounter Aldi.
"Don't just keep still, but increase your commitment"
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The document to “M”, the abbreviation for Minister Scholz, also stated that the banks would not let Wirecard “jump over the edge”.
"Due to the large number of banks involved and the short-term nature of the possible terminations, the credit risk is assessed as limited." Wirecard had credit lines with several banks totaling around two billion euros.
The content of an email from the head of KfW's state-owned subsidiary IPEX Bank, Klaus Michalak, dated June 23, from which the "Spiegel" quotes, fits in with this.
Accordingly, Kukies asked the manager for a phone call that day.
He had already been "warned", Michalak wrote to the KfW top management, including CEO Günther Bräuning.
The Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federal Ministry of Economics would think about finding “a German solution” for Wirecard.
"Mr. Kukies probably wants to discuss with us whether we can not only keep still, but whether we would increase our commitment," wrote Michalak.
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The confidential messages that have now emerged from the head of IPEX-Bank to those responsible at KfW from the summer of 2020 belong to documents that are in the secret protection office of the Bundestag, the content has been confirmed to WELT.
Such documents may only be viewed there by the members of the committee of inquiry; cell phone recordings or notes are prohibited.
IPEX Bank did not want to comment on the letters referring to ongoing investigations.
In autumn of last year, the Frankfurt / Main public prosecutor's office searched the premises of IPEX Bank.
As it was said at the time, it was about the initial suspicion of infidelity.
The institute is accused of granting Wirecard AG a credit line of 100 million euros in 2018 and extending it in 2019 without concluding any hedging transactions.
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The opposition foamed over the events that have now become known.
"It shows how much people in the federal government wanted and believed in the Wirecard story of lies to the bitter end and beyond," said Danyal Bayaz, who sits on the Wirecard committee of inquiry for the Greens.
Florian Toncar from the FDP sees this as further evidence of the positive image that prevailed about the Wirecard company until the end in the Ministry of Finance.
"I wonder where this came from, was there contact between Kukies and the Wirecard management until the end?", Says Toncar.
This will have to be clarified by mid-April at the latest, when Kukies has to testify before the committee of inquiry.
Fabio De Masi from the Left Party speaks of a "political escort service" from the Ministry of Finance.
“What technology did Mr. Kukies want to save from the Chinese?
The porn customer's algorithm? ”Said De Masi.
Kay Gottschalk, AfD politician and chairman of the committee of inquiry, recalled the State Secretary's hybrid function.
On the one hand, he stands for the shareholders of the federal government, which holds a good 15 percent in Commerzbank, which threatened a loan default of 187 million euros as a result of the Wirecard bankruptcy.
At the same time, Kukies is sitting on the supervisory board of IPEX Bank and in this role tried to convince his management board of a bridging or extension loan for Wirecard AG.
"Without such an extension, the Commerzbank loans will of course also fail," said Gottschalk.
It shows once again that the government did not understand until the day of the bankruptcy that Wirecard was an obviously fraudulent company.
The Federal Ministry of Finance rejected the accusation that Kukies wanted to press IPEX Bank for another loan to rescue Wirecard.
“It is nonsense that anyone has been pressured.
The fact is rather: As the Federal Ministry of Finance publicly stated a few weeks ago, all options for avoiding a disorderly bankruptcy were examined - and, for good reasons, immediately discarded, ”said the Ministry.
In defense of his minister and candidate for chancellor, Jens Zimmermann, SPD MP and investigative committee member, recalled the environment in which these discussions were held: at the height of the corona pandemic, when Lufthansa was in dire straits, for example.
"The fact that the finance and economics ministries were considering a possible stabilization of another Dax 30 group is understandable from my point of view," said Zimmermann.
A financial distress could have had consequences for the banks.
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The question of whether Wirecard held innovative technologies that are important for Germany as a business location also had to be examined.
With today's knowledge one would of course judge this differently, said Zimmermann.
"What is decisive, however, is that the ministries obtain expertise on this and, on the basis of this, finally decide against intervening."
The considerations for state aid were indeed put aside in the summer of 2020.
Also because there were questions about the sustainability of Wirecard's business model, as the documents say.
On June 25, Wirecard filed for bankruptcy.
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