(New: Braun wants to speak for two to three hours on Monday)
MUNICH (dpa-AFX) – In the Wirecard trial about what is believed to be the largest case of fraud in Germany since 1945, the key witness is called a “liar” by the defenders of his co-defendants. The defenders of ex-CEO Markus Braun and the former Wirecard chief accountant demanded a “ban on exploitation” for the statements made by manager Oliver Bellenhaus, who worked in Dubai until the collapse of the Dax (DAX 40) group in 2020, before the Munich district court. The argument of the lawyers: just as the 49-year-old once lied to and deceived superiors, colleagues and business partners, he is now deceiving the judiciary.
“A professional liar,” Braun’s defense attorney Alfred Dierlamm attacked his client’s former subordinate. “Lying for life, even after Wirecard.” A ban on exploitation would mean that all statements made by the key witness – including the allegations against his co-defendants – are not taken into account in the verdict.
Both Braun’s lawyers and the defense attorney for the former chief accountant accused Bellenhaus of having deleted or otherwise destroyed large amounts of data – e-mails, chats on Telegram and Signal, as well as Wirecard business and company data. “You always have to destroy your traces,” quoted Sabine Stetter, the defense attorney for the former chief accountant, from a surviving email from the key witness. “The defendant Bellenhaus even deceived his own wife about his identity.”
It is on record that Bellenhaus lost his mobile phone in the summer of 2020 immediately before his arrest on the way to the public prosecutor’s office, and the mobile phone is still missing today. Bellenhaus only gave the investigators “a prepared database,” Stetter said. He had managed to “manipulate the point of view of the public prosecutor’s office”.
The 49-year-old Bellenhaus is the only one of the three accused who admits the allegations made by the Munich public prosecutor. In the course of the process so far, the key witness has admitted to forgery and manipulation and has seriously accused Braun and the former chief accountant.
“An absurd story of lies,” said Braun’s lawyer Dierlamm. “The story of Mr. Braun as a gang leader is a courtesy statement without any reference to reality.” The lawyer accused the key witness of a “dirty trade” with the Munich public prosecutor’s office. “I’ve stopped believing in oversights and coincidences in this process.”
According to the indictment, Braun and his accomplices acted as a gang of fraudsters who cheated banks and lenders by more than three billion euros with the help of invented sales and profits. Braun himself is expected to comment personally on the indictment for the first time next Monday. The Austrian manager announced that he wanted to speak for two to three hours: “I want to explain the Wirecard business model.”/cho/DP/zb