According to a newspaper report, the German financial regulator Bafin has commissioned only one employee for months to investigate the fraud allegations against the payment service provider Wirecard. Despite suspicions since the beginning of 2019 that “essentially only one employee” was entrusted with the complex examination, the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” reported.
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According to the newspaper, the Bafin saw an opportunity to investigate the allegations against Wirecard as early as February 2019 as part of securities supervision. However, according to the applicable law, she had to commission the German Audit Office (DPR) with this investigation. However, this has only few staff and therefore only hired one employee for the examination. Private accounting firms, on the other hand, often employ dozens of accounting experts in similarly difficult cases in large companies.
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According to the FAS, Bafin and DPR confirmed that the special audit had been initiated in February 2019, but gave no further details. A result of the special audit by the financial supervisory authority is therefore not yet available.
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The questionable division of tasks between Bafin and DPR is also at the center of criticism on the part of the EU Commission against Germany in the Wirecard case, the paper continued. The EU is now having the role of German financial regulators in the balance sheet scandal reviewed by the European securities regulator Esma.
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Wirecard filed for bankruptcy this week after the company had to admit that the EUR 1.9 billion in cash on the balance sheet that it said was in Asian bank accounts could not be found. Bafin President Felix Hufeld described the events as a “shame” for Germany. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) has announced a reform of German financial supervision as a consequence of the accounting scandal.
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