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The finance committee meeting on the Wirecard affair was largely unfinished: the secret services wanted nothing to do with it, and the federal government represented only financial interests. It is precisely this attitude that encourages the opposition to dig deeper.
The Federal Chancellery inadvertently placed a good award on the lapel of the “Handelsblatt”: According to this, the Wirtschaftsblatt is better informed than the German secret services in the scandal surrounding the fraudulent billions of the German financial services provider Wirecards. At least when it comes to the whereabouts of former Austrian CFO Jan Marsalek. State Minister Hendrik Hoppenstedt said in his appearance today at the Bundestag Finance Committee that neither the BND nor any other German intelligence service knew anything about Marsalek’s whereabouts. The “Handelsblatt”, on the other hand, had already reported the night before, citing his acquaintance. Marsalek was near Moscow, under the protection of the Russian foreign intelligence service.
Wirecard is more than a scandal about financial fraud or a matter about a possible failure of the German supervisory authorities. The figure of Marsalek, who is obviously in contact with foreign secret services, the alleged blindness of the German security authorities to the dubious activities of Wirecard and Marsalek, the unclear relationship between the Federal Chancellery and Wirecard – all this makes the billionaire fraud is a political matter. A year before the federal elections, the federal government is very inconvenient, so it is eagerly awaited if the Greens, the FDP and the left will enforce an investigative committee. The FDP and the left do not want to depend on AfD votes to appoint a committee and await approval from the still undecided Greens.
A busy retiree
A possible investigative committee would not only shed light on possible errors by the financial supervisory authority BaFin, which reports to Federal Finance Minister and SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz. The question will also be how conclusive are the statements made so far by the Federal Chancellery about the role of the secret services and about the meetings with the German lobbyists. One person combines both aspects: the former secret service coordinator at the Chancellery Klaus-Dieter Fritsche.
In September 2019, Fritsche arranged a meeting with Wirecard representatives at Lars-Hendrik Röller, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s economic adviser. Fritsche has not retired since his retirement, which began in early 2018. Rather, he hired himself as an advisor to then-Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl. He was supposed to help the FPÖ politician reform the BVT secret service. After the government was toppled over the Ibiza affair, Fritsche worked for Wirecard and arranged a meeting with Angela Merkel’s economic adviser Lars-Hendrik Röller in September 2019. Meanwhile, Fritsche is again a consultant in Vienna, but now for a Ministry of the Interior led by the ÖVP.
Austria again and again: Jailed Wirecard founder Markus Braun, also Austrian, was part of the advisory team to ÖVP Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Marsalek, who was born in Vienna, was close to the FPÖ and the Russian ruling party. Marsalek should also have contacts to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Fight against Terrorism (BVT). You will now be protected by the Russian foreign secret service.
BND knows nothing
It is not sure if this is really the case, but many traces of Marsalek, who investigated the “Financial Times”, the “Spiegel” and the Bellingcat research platforms, lead to Russia. Marsalek is said to have boasted of his contacts with the intelligence services. But his conspiratorial lifestyle, dozens of short trips to Russia, alleged air visits to Syria and Libya, showing secret documents about the Russian poison Novitschok, and possession of several passports, allegedly bypassed the German secret services.
At least that’s what State Minister Hoppenstedt said in committee. SPD MP Jens Zimmermann is skeptical. “I was absolutely surprised that the BND does not know anything about Wirecard,” he told ntv.de after the hearing. So you recognize a back door to the Chancellery: Hoppenstedt is not the secret service coordinator after all. This is Johannes Geismann and you don’t know what he knows. Unlike Hoppenstedt, Röller and the department head responsible for the secret services, Bernhard Kotsch, did not appear on the finance committee. So, almost only Hoppenstedt spoke, so at least there were no contradictions in the statements, Zimmermann said. “All of that leaked through Mr. Hoppenstedt,” says Zimmermann. Criticizes the appearance of the three interviewees: “The Foreign Ministry has not contributed to less speculation.”
Stephan Thomae, who oversees the FDP’s secret services in the parliamentary scrutiny committee, also has ideas for speculation. “A payment service provider that also handles business in the Middle East and Asian porn and gambling industry is actually an obvious object of observation for the secret services,” Thomae told ntv.de. “I also don’t think Marsalek was noticed so late.” Especially since reports indicate that the German authorities of a Marsalek business partner pointed out Marsalek’s spy stories as early as 2017. It seems “peculiar” to Thomae that the BND has ignored such information from a CFO of a DAX company.
A wild theory
If the reports on Marsalek and his contacts in Russia are correct, he would have been a very interesting object of observation for the BND. According to the Financial Times, Marsalek tried, among other things, to establish a private mercenary militia in Libya. And there should be links between Marsalek and the Russian mercenaries active in Libya. There are also trips to Russia. Despite Marsalek’s penchant for bragging, the German secret service doesn’t want to have noticed anything. An alternative, possibly outrageous, explanation would be: the German secret services were aware of at least some of Wirecard’s dubious activities, but let the company do so out of interest in the object under observation. In principle, almost nothing is excluded in the corridors of the Bundestag. Almost everything seems conceivable in this multi-billion dollar fraud case.
Fritsche, whom Thomae considers “insufficiently enlightened”, could play a key role in the investigation. His consulting work for Interior Minister Kickl, who is known for his contacts in the far-right milieu, was approved by the Foreign Ministry, on the condition that he did not disclose any knowledge of his more than 20 years of leadership in the German secret services. “But why else did the Austrians reward him?” Asks Thomae. Or, conversely, was there a German interest in Fritsche’s work and his information from Austria? And how does that fit with Fritsche’s advertising for Wirecard with Chancellor Röller’s advisor?
The U committee approaches
Röller intervenes on the finance committee. Such quotes are nothing special. “If only I knew who is looking at everything here,” says Röller, according to SPD MP Zimmermann, in one of her few statements. In fact, it does not seem uncommon for the Chancellery to exchange ideas with representatives of DAX companies and promote German business interests abroad. So why these tight-lipped statements and contradictions?
The Chancellery presents Fritsche’s appointment as a familiarization meeting, although there was already a meeting between Merkel and lobbyist and former Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. After her publicity, Merkel campaigned for Wirecard in China. By then the company was already well known. Left-wing MP Fabio di Masi announces the need for clarification in this context. “All the alarm bells are ringing for me,” he said after the finance committee meeting on Fritsche’s activities.
Di Masi now has a commission of inquiry. Thomae sees the German secret service’s insistence on his ignorance as “another reason for a committee of inquiry.” The Greens also seem to lean towards a U-Committee: Lisa Paus accuses the federal government of “naivety” in dealing with Wirecard. The SPD’s co-ruling parliamentary group hesitates. Zimmermann says: “Today’s poll also showed that clarification is doable without a committee. We think we are making great progress.” The decision on this now rests with the Greens.
