Wirecard Scandal Trial Sees Chief Witness Deny Deleting Data

A witness in the Wirecard scandal trial has denied deleting data and withholding information from prosecutors.

Oliver Bellenhaus, who is the former head of Wirecard’s Dubai-based subsidiary and the chief witness in the Wirecard scandal trial, denied those allegations in a German court on Wednesday (Dec. 21), the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

Alfred Dierlamm, the lead lawyer for former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun, had accused Bellenhaus of deleting data on servers in Dubai that would have proven the existence of the firm’s outsourced business in Asia, according to the report.

Bellenhaus denied doing this, saying that instead he shut down the servers after auditors had used them and that the accusation was based on a misunderstanding of something said by one of his colleagues.

Dierlamm had also alleged that Bellenhaus failed to quickly disclose to prosecutors the existence of a private foundation in Liechtenstein.

Bellenhaus said on Wednesday that money wired to that account was a bonus for him that had been approved by Wirecard executives.

These statements from Bellenhaus came two days after he admitted guilt in the high-profile fraud trial but painted Braun as the mastermind behind the crimes.

As PYMNTS reported Monday (Dec. 19), the Wirecard trial centers on prosecutors accusing senior executives of the company of running a criminal racket and defrauding huge sums of money from the firm’s clients prior to its collapse in 2000.

In what has become an increasingly venomous display of finger pointing, last week Braun maintained that he was innocent and insisted that it was in fact Bellenhaus who was the main perpetrator of the fraud.

On Dec. 12, Braun’s lawyers began their defense by attempting to shift the blame onto Bellenhaus, who has been acting as the prosecution’s primary witness in the case against Braun.

Dierlamm said at the time that Bellenhaus was the main perpetrator of the fraud and asked for the trial to be suspended given the volume of files that the defense needs to work with and has only had access to since November.

The trial began Dec. 8 with three former Wirecard executives facing as many as 15 years in prison if they are convicted.