EMost of the assets of former Wirecard boss Markus Braun remain frozen. A smaller arrest warrant, which the insolvency administrator Michael Jaffé had obtained, was lifted on Thursday by the Munich I Regional Court.
The arrest warrant, upheld by the court, concerns the disbursement of a €100 million loan to a Singapore incorporated company with no collateral and despite arrears on a previous loan. On the other hand, it is about the subscription of two bonds for 100 million euros. Of the total of 200 million, only 60 million went back to Wirecard, resulting in a total of 140 million euros. “The plaintiff insolvency administrator was able to convince the chamber that Dr. Braun violated his duties as a member of the Management Board of Wirecard AG,” said the court under the presiding judge Helmut Krenek.
The loan in question is also the subject of an indictment against Braun. The Munich public prosecutor accuses the imprisoned manager, among other things, of embezzling corporate assets worth several hundred million euros. Part of the sum relates to the loan to the Ocap company, which Wirecard was supposed to help process credit card payments but, according to the public prosecutor, financed oil transport. “It was evident that the loans to Ocap were only intended to smuggle assets out of Wirecard,” the lawsuit says.
Braun achieved a partial success with the second arrest decision for 35 million euros. Braun’s colleague on the board at the time, Jan Marsalek, is said to have diverted this amount from the Wirecard Group via a Kreisel transfer in order to pay off a loan from Braun. Braun had argued that he knew nothing about it.
The court also affirmed the reason for arrest – i.e. the risk that without its imposition the enforcement of the judgment would be thwarted or made significantly more difficult, as it was said. The danger arises above all from the fact that shortly before the collapse of Wirecard AG, Braun sold shares in the company held through its holding company.
However, the court’s decisions are not of great practical importance, since the Munich public prosecutor’s office has had the private assets of the manager suspected of fraud arrested. In fact, Braun has no access to the 35 million euros.
