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Reports so far show an average amount of damages of around 45,000 euros for private and institutional investors, but that’s not all, attorney Eric Breiteneder told the APA. Usually only five to ten percent of those affected do anything in such massive damage cases.
If you look at the capitalization of former stock market star Wirecard, “we can expect that we still have a few thousand victims in Austria who have done nothing so far.” Affected investors must decide before December 9 whether to submit their claims; On December 10, the statute of the review conference takes place in the bankruptcy of Wirecard AG.
Fee of about ten percent
Not only shareholders can register their claims with the insolvency administrator in Munich, but also Wirecard bondholders and buyers of other financial products that refer to Wirecard shares, such as certificates of leverage. “Especially in economically uncertain times, you must also make valid claims,” says Breiteneder.
In the lawyer’s opinion, investors in insolvency proceedings can expect a fee of around ten percent based on the administrator’s report.
Report to possible auditor
In the Wirecard case, Breiteneder is also verifying whether it is filing a criminal complaint against the EY auditor for its clients. Auditing firm EY (Ernst & Young) has come under fire for auditing Wirecard’s balance sheets for years.
Investors had repeatedly heard reports that something was wrong with Wirecard’s balance sheet, but the audited company resisted and received an unrated certificate over and over again, up to and including 2018, according to Breiteneder. Investors have relied on that. “That was the main reason they continued to invest.”
Breiteneder wants to introduce the presentation of the facts in Austria. “In Austria, unlike Germany, we can also prosecute the legal person, so that a comprehensive prosecution of the cases by the Austrian police authorities is possible and sensible.” The trustee’s report and the German U-Committee’s statements on Wirecard give the lawyer hope.
Fines to the examiners of the German U-Committee
In the German Bundestag’s commission of inquiry into the Wirecard accounting scandal, deficits in the final audit came to light. According to Wirecard’s special auditor, KPMG, at the U-Committee last week, the payment processor made the job very difficult, withheld documents and repeatedly postponed interviews. “We wanted to analyze the data, but we couldn’t,” said KPMG employee Alexander Geschonneck.
On Friday, the U Commission fined two EY representatives with fines of 1,000 euros each because they had not made specific statements about the case, but only provided general information. To the chagrin of some MPs, they had upheld their duty of confidentiality. Breiteneder: “In addition to the supervisory boards that should have intervened, the auditors are the ones who have to deliver the documents.”
Investigations into gang fraud and balance sheet falsification
Wirecard Group collapsed in June 2020. Accusations of balance sheet inconsistencies have been circulating in the media, especially the “Financial Times” (FT) for years. The former DAX group is said to have set aside billions in bogus deals over the years, to the detriment of banks and investors.
The Munich prosecution charges former Chief Markus Braun, an Austrian, and other Wirecard managers of commercial gang fraud, account forgery and market manipulation. The presumption of innocence applies to everyone.
