mic Munich
Two other former Wirecard board members have been charged by the Munich public prosecutor’s office. The investigators accuse former CFO Alexander von Knoop and former product development director Susanne Steidl of three cases of breach of trust. In another case, von Knoop is said to have aided and abetted breach of trust. Both of them approved loans to business partners “out of the blue” and without detailed examination: “All of these acts of breach of trust caused Wirecard AG to suffer losses of several hundred million euros.”
Former CFO in ignorance
The investigators are limiting themselves to the accusation of breach of trust. Former CEO Markus Braun and two other former managers, who have been on trial in Munich since December 2022 following the collapse of the payment service provider, are accused of fraud worth billions.
The 12th Commercial Criminal Division of the Munich I Regional Court will decide on a possible date for the main hearing in the Knoop/Seidl case, the public prosecutor’s office said. Knoops’ lawyers stressed that at no point during his employment had he been aware of any machinations to the detriment of Wirecard AG. At no time did he have the intention or even the idea of harming Wirecard companies through his actions. The law firm representing Steidl did not comment on the indictment.
The focus is on several loans, especially to the Singapore company Ocap. In 2017, it received 10 million euros from Wirecard Bank, of which von Knoop was a board member at the time. When the loan was increased to 40 million euros in the late afternoon of December 23, 2019, the board did not make a formal decision and did not obtain any documents after Wirecard board member Jan Marsalek wrote to them. The prosecutors said: “Rather, the two accused immediately agreed to the meaningless proposal sent by email by Marsalek, who is being prosecuted elsewhere, within half an hour without further examination.” Further loans, such as a loan for 100 million euros, followed later.
