Philippine Secretary of Justice Menardo Guevarra said the country's investigators have logged a complaint against former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of German payment firm Wirecard, Jan Marsalek, regarding fraud and cyber crime accusations.

German payments firm Wirecard (Photo: FT)

Guevarra told AFP that the National Bureau of Investigation lodged the complaint on May 31 against Marsalek, as well as a Manila lawyer and bank employees on Wirecard's alleged bank fraud. State prosecutors are conducting a preliminary investigation which would determine if charges would be filed.

Marsalek was responsible for Wirecard's Asia business. In August 2020, Interpol and the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (BKA) have extended the arrest warrant for Marsalek, who was remaining at large. Marsalek was suspected, along with other defendants, of inflating total assets and sales through fake transactions. According to the Munich prosecutor, the scam cost banks and investors more than 3 billion EUR (3.6 billion USD).

Wirecard used to be one of the "rising stars" in the financial technology sector in Germany. However, last year, the company had to file for bankruptcy protection after admitting that 1.9 billion EUR (2.3 billion USD) was missing from the company's balance sheet. Wirecard said the money was supposedly held in trust in two Philippine lenders to cover trading risks carried out by third parties on Wirecard's behalf.

But in June 2020,  auditors Ernst & Young said they were unable to find it, forcing the company to admit the money did not exist.

The Philippine central bank said previously that the money never entered the country's financial system.

Source: VNA