Considering what was known at the time, zu Guttenberg saw no problem with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s promotion of the digital payment services provider during a 2019 trip to China, he told a parliamentary investigative committee.

The 49-year-old and his consulting and investment firm Spitzberg Partners had worked with Wirecard prior to its downfall, when it admitted in June that 1.9 billion euros (2.3 billion euros) in assets were likely non-existent.

It was zu Guttenberg that put Merkel’s office in touch with the then-DAX-listed company prior to her journey to China.

The former defence minister emphatically denied any accusations that he had been aware of suspected fraud prior to the shock admission.

“One could never have guessed fraud such as this as a business partner, despite certain assumptions in Britain’s Financial Times,” he told the committee.

The newspaper had been reporting about dubious accounting practices within the sprawling Wirecard Group long before the scandal emerged.

“If we had known that Wirecard’s business model was apparently based on fraud, we would never have advised this DAX-listed company,” zu Guttenberg said.

He added that his firm had believed the reports from the company and state regulators in good faith.

Wirecard’s auditor EY, the state financial agency Bafin and government officials are under pressure to explain why they didn’t catch on to the scandal sooner.