Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek resurfaces with a message for the courts
Former Wirecard chief operating officer Jan Marsalek has re-emerged after three years in hiding, delivering a statement to the Munich Regional Court via his defence lawyer Frank Eckstein last week as Germany’s largest fraud trial continues.
Jan Marsalek issued a statement through his lawyer
Austrian-born Marsalek, 43, has not been seen or heard from since he vanished shortly before the German payment processor imploded in 2020 with a $2 billion hole in its accounts and a debt of almost $4 billion to investors. German police have issued a warrant for his arrest amid an international search.
Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun along with former execs Oliver Bellenhaus and Stephan von Erffa are currently on trial in the country on charges including fraud and accounting manipulation.
German prosecutors allege that a third-party business based in Asia and overseen by Marsalek which was supposedly holding $2 billion in cash never actually existed. When a state-commissioned audit by EY looked into the accounts, they were found to be empty, which led to Wirecard’s bankruptcy.
According to The Irish Times, Bellenhaus, who is now acting as a witness for the prosecution, claimed that he received €4.8 million over seven years for his role in the plot.
And while Marsalek still manages to evade capture, his latest correspondence delivers an intriguing twist to the trial.
As reported by WirtschaftsWoche, Marsalek’s eight-page letter to the court made no specific mention of the allegations facing the former COO. Instead, the letter reportedly states that Wirecard’s third-party business in Asia was real – a point that’s also being claimed by Braun’s lawyer Alfred Dierlamm – while also challenging Bellenhaus’s credibility.
Although he has let his opinions regarding the case be known, Marsalek has yet to give up his exact whereabouts, despite being one of Europe’s most wanted fugitives. The trial continues.
