The third defendant remained silent for 137 days in the fraud trial surrounding the billion-dollar bankruptcy of the financial group Wirecard. On the 138th day of the trial, the former head of accounting made a statement in which he apologized and at the same time attacked the prosecution’s star witness.
Oliver Bellenhaus, who largely admits the accusation and whose testimony slanders the other two suspects, is “good at lying and twisting things,” the former accountant said in the course of his self-written testimony, which, according to his lawyer, runs to about 190 pages. Stephan E. attributed his co-defendant’s “zeal for pressure” to, among other things, the fact that he was jealous of his title and salary. He also “irritated” him with his requests for receipts – probably also because Bellenhaus then had to falsify them.
Aren’t you actually an accountant?
E. himself also admitted to mistakes that he regretted. At the same time, the former accountant emphasized that he never sought personal enrichment and always only wanted the best for the financial service provider. He also claims that he was not responsible for many things or did not have time for them. The third suspect also emphasized that he was not an accountant himself.
Due to the staff structure and the large number of assignments, he “did not have the time and energy to question everything”. Therefore, he basically trusted the assessment of the individual departments. “If they were happy, we were too”, was his epilogue to the judge on Wednesday.
E. initially had little to say about the external partner activities that played a central role in the collapse of Wirecard. However, he limited expectations at the beginning of his statement. This was not the focus of his work; he only got a lot of information about it from hearsay. He could only talk about “many years of desk work” at Wirecard.
Prosecutor “disappointed” by rulings
“We have not heard any confession,” said court spokesman Laurent Lafleur, summarizing the first half of the 138th day of the trial. And the trend does not seem to be heading in that direction either. The prosecutor was “a little disappointed” by the verdicts. The defense of former Wirecard boss and Austrian-born Markus Braun, who was also accused, was satisfied. The statement It supports your client’s statements.
Payment service provider Wirecard went bankrupt in June 2020 because 1.9 billion euros booked in blocked accounts could no longer be found. The indictment accuses the three defendants, as well as former sales director Jan Marsalek, who has gone into hiding, and other accomplices of simply making up billions in turnover to keep the company, which is actually making a loss, afloat.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
