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Wirecard headquarters in 2020: Will there be a second confession in the trial in Munich?
Photo: Peter Kneffel / dpa
The former head of accounting, Stephan von Erffa, who was co-accused in the Wirecard trial, is negotiating a deal with the court and the public prosecutor. This could include a confession. According to a spokeswoman, the Munich regional court has promised him a prison sentence of between two and eight years if he makes a confession.
The presiding judge Markus Födisch said on Wednesday that at this point the defendant could still gain something by confessing. But he shouldn't wait months before having another conversation with the court and the public prosecutor's office.
The payment service provider Wirecard went bankrupt in June 2020 because 1.9 billion euros booked in escrow accounts could not be found. Erffa's former chief accountant has been on trial since December 2022, together with former CEO Markus Braun and the former Wirecard governor in Dubai, Oliver Bellenhaus, on charges of accounting falsification and gang fraud. Braun denies the allegations. Von Erffa has not yet commented.
Bellenhaus appears as a key witness and accuses the two co-defendants. After confessing to his involvement in the alleged fraud and other alleged crimes at the former DAX group, he was released from custody under conditions in February.
A deal could end the process more quickly
The presiding judge said von Erffa could help clarify the matter. The chamber has invited witnesses until 2025. There is a great chance of bringing the very expensive process to a quicker conclusion. It was said that the legal discussion with Erffas' lawyers and the public prosecutor's office on March 22 about a possible agreement came about at the suggestion of the Commercial Criminal Chamber.
According to a psychiatric report, the former chief accountant is guilty. A discontinuation of the proceedings or an acquittal is not in sight. The company's balance sheets were wrong and the damage was extensive. A suspended sentence is illusory. But the defendant had been in custody for a year and could collect brownie points with a plea bargain.
The public prosecutor's office accuses Braun of having formed a gang of fraudsters with accomplices, fabricating sales, falsifying balance sheets and defrauding lenders of 3.1 billion euros. Braun's defense rejects this and accuses Bellenhaus and his alleged accomplices of embezzling up to two billion euros in real sales.
The former sales director Jan Marsalek went into hiding after the bankruptcy and is wanted. SPIEGEL investigations have revealed that he went into hiding in Russia and apparently spied for Moscow.
mmq/kko/dpa/Reuters