Wirecard executive fled by private jet to Belarus as firm collapsed

Jan Marsalek, Wirecard’s ex-COO who is on Interpol’s most-wanted list, fled in June shortly before Wirecard filed for insolvency

Executives admitted that €1.9 billion in funds never existed, setting off one of Germany’s biggest accounting scandals

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Wirecard AG’s implosion is the subject of a parliamentary investigation in Berlin. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:00pm, 25 Jan 2021Updated: 11:41pm, 25 Jan 2021

A former senior executive at Wirecard AG escaped from Austria to Belarus on a private aircraft last year with the help of a secret-service agent and a far-right politician, according to an arrest warrant seen by Bloomberg.

Jan Marsalek, the German payments company’s ex-chief operating officer who is on Interpol’s most-wanted list, fled in June shortly before Wirecard filed for insolvency.

Executives admitted that €1.9 billion (US$2.3 billion) in funds never existed, setting off one of Germany’s biggest accounting scandals.

The company’s implosion is the subject of a parliamentary investigation in Berlin, in which officials ranging from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief economic adviser to Deutsche Bank AG chief executive Christian Sewing have been called to testify.

Austrian police on Friday detained a senior official from the BVT domestic intelligence service – currently on a long-term leave of absence – for two days before releasing him, according to Nina Bussek, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors’ office in Vienna.

A former member of parliament for the far-right Freedom Party was also taken into custody in connection with the escape and remains there due to a separate matter, said Christina Salzborn, a Vienna court spokeswoman. The two men cannot be named for legal reasons.