Wirecard AG (WDI:DE)had its offices in Ireland raided today, according to a report in the Irish Times.
Quoting a statement by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB):
“Following receipt of a mutual legal assistance treaty from German authorities, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau began a search under warrant at a financial services provider with a business premises in Dublin city centre today, Thursday, July 9th, 2020 … “Detectives attached to the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau are assisting GNECB during the course of the searches, which are being conducted in an effort to obtain evidence concerning alleged fraud at the financial institution and its subsidiaries.”
While the GNECB did not mention Wirecard by name, the report indicated the raid was part of the fraud investigation regarding Wirecard’s collapse due to €1.9 billion in lost funds.
Reuters reported today that Wirecard was under investigation for money laundering by Munich prosecutors.
Even more bizarre is a report in the FT that references statements by missing former Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek, originally from Austria, that states he claimed to have had “ties to intelligence services.” To quote the report which alleges Marsalek shared “secret documents” with individuals in the UK:
“The documents, which have been reviewed by the Financial Times, included the formula for novichok, the world’s deadliest nerve agent. His use of the documents in meetings in the summer of 2018, which were described by two traders who attended, show the mysterious connections and bizarre tactics of a man who helped run the German payments group for a decade before it collapsed last month in a fraud scandal.”
The FT described the documents as classified and including details on former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his poisoning which took place in the UK in March of 2018.
Marsalek was fired by Wirecard’s board soon after the missing funds were announced. He remains on the run with some reports placing him in Asia. Obviously he is a key suspect in the ongoing fraud investigation.