MUNICH (HRNW) – Germany’s mammoth Wirecard fraud trial opened on Thursday, with ex-CEO Markus Braun and two former executives in the dock over their roles in the country’s biggest-ever accounting scandal.
The trial in Munich comes two and a half years after digital payments firm Wirecard collapsed in spectacular fashion after admitting that 1.9 billion euros ($2 billion) missing from its accounts didn’t actually exist.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was finance minister at the time of Wirecard’s implosion, described the scandal as “unparalleled” in Germany’s post-war history.
The first day of the high-profile trial, held in a high-security courtroom inside Munich’s sprawling Stadelheim prison complex, will mainly consist of prosecutors reading out the 90-page indictment.
Notably absent from the trial will be Wirecard’s former chief operating officer Jan Marsalek, a shadowy figure with ties to foreign intelligence agencies.
Marsalek evaded arrest in 2020 by staging a daring escape from Austria by private jet. He was reported earlier this year to be hiding out in Russia.
Wirecard’s veteran CEO Braun, in custody since July 2020, faces charges of commercial gang fraud, breach of trust, accounting fraud and market manipulation.
The 53-year-old denies the allegations and claims to be a victim of the fraud, painting Marsalek as the mastermind.