Wirecard shares soar as head office cleared of wrongdoing following fraud allegations
Shares in payment firm Wirecard soared today after a law firm cleared the company’s head office of wrongdoing following allegations of fraud and false accounting.
An independent investigation by law firm Rajah & Tann found that local staff at the company’s Singapore office may have committed crimes but these were not material to the German company’s financial position.
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The firm’s shares have been under pressure since an investigation by the Financial Times alleged Wirecard staff had been involved in fraud and false accounting at the firm’s Asia-Pacific office.
Shares rallied by up to 30 per cent on the news that the law firm’s probe had not found evidence that crimes had been committed at Wirecard’s headquarters.
“The review… did not reveal findings of criminality in respect of the headquarters of Wirecard,” the company said.
“Criminal liability may, however, be attributable to individual local employees in Singapore according to local law.”
The allegations wiped billions off the value of Wirecard and Singapore police opened an investigation and raided the firm’s offices.
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The Financial Times story was based on a preliminary report by Rajah & Taan last May that covered a whistleblower’s allegations that accounting staff in Singapore had carried out sham transactions, known as round-tripping, to boost revenues.
Following the independent investigation Wirecard said: “The independent review had no findings of round-tripping or corruption.”