Former COO of insolvent German payments company Wirecard left for China after Philippines visit: report
- The German company’s rapid fall from grace comes after it admitted that 1.9 billion euros went missing from its balance sheet
- The crisis began when Wirecard failed to publish its yearly report on June 18, citing the missing cash
Former Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek arrived in Manila on June 23 and left for China from the central Philippine province of Cebu the next morning, CNN Philippines reported, citing Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.
Details of Marsalek’s arrival and departure were on the Bureau of Immigration’s database, although there were no signs of Marsalek in Cebu airport’s CCTV, Guevarra was quoted as saying.
The former Wirecard COO was with his Filipina wife, which explains why he was allowed entry despite travel restrictions due to the pandemic, according to the report. Marsalek is planning to turn himself in at the Munich prosecutor at the start of next week, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported. Germany has issued an arrest warrant for him, according to Handelsblatt.
The National Bureau of Investigation will summon a Filipino national named as a Wirecard trustee, Guevarra was also quoted as saying.
Wirecard filed for insolvency on Thursday, following the arrest of its CEO amid a massive accounting scandal that left the German payment-processing firm scrambling to find over US$2 billion dollars missing from its balance sheet.
Wirecard management cited over-indebtedness as the reason behind the decision to seek court protection in Munich, according to a statement. The company also said it is considering whether the insolvency proceedings should also be applied to its subsidiaries.