Markus Braun, the main defendant in the Wirecard trial, has no more money for his chosen defense attorney. And now his former chief accountant also wants to make a confession.
In the Wirecard trial, the defense attorneys of the main defendant Markus Braun have resigned. Their payment is no longer guaranteed, lawyer Alfred Dierlamm and his colleague Elena-Sabella Meier informed the Munich Regional Court before the hearing on Wednesday: The management insurance of the former Wirecard CEO Braun no longer reimburses his legal costs. The court immediately appointed two public defenders to assist the former billionaire in the further trial.
Chief accountant E., who is accused of accounting fraud and gang fraud together with Braun and former Wirecard manager Oliver Bellenhaus, again promised a confession on Wednesday. After a conversation with the defense attorneys and the public prosecutor, presiding judge Markus Födisch said that E. could expect a sentence of between six and eight years in prison if he made a timely and comprehensive confession.
The payment service provider Wirecard went bankrupt in June 2020 because 1.9 billion euros booked in trust accounts could no longer be found. The prosecution accuses the three defendants, as well as the former sales director Jan Marsalek, who has disappeared, and other accomplices of simply inventing sales in the billions in order to keep the actually loss-making DAX group afloat. E. has so far remained silent in the trial, which has been going on since December 2022. Braun has denied all allegations, and Bellenhaus, who has confessed, is acting as a key witness and accusing the two co-defendants.
On Wednesday, the court threatened E. with a prison sentence of between six and eight years if he promptly made a qualified confession based on the charges. A contribution to the investigation alone was not enough, said the presiding judge. However, E. could testify to a number of things about events at the company headquarters in Aschheim near Munich, which Bellenhaus had no insight into from his place of work in Dubai. The judge cited transfers within the company, cooperation with the auditor EY, discussions beforehand and the attitude of CEO Braun as examples.
Braun categorically denies all allegations. He also does not want any legal discussions about a possible settlement, as the court announced on Wednesday. Unlike his two co-defendants, the ex-CEO and former billionaire remains in custody – for almost four years.