Staff hauled out millions of euros in cash from Wirecard’s HQ in Aldi and Lidl shopping bags
Wirecard employees hauled out millions of euros in cash from the group’s Munich headquarters, according to former employees.
Former employees told Munich police that staff repeatedly removed large sums of cash in Aldi and Lidl plastic bags from Wirecard’s HQ, the Financial Times first reported.
The practice started as early as 2012, and suggests fraudulent activity at the firm was more brazen than first thought.
The total amount, the current whereabouts of the cash and the purpose of removing it from the building are unclear, however employees told police six-figure amounts of banknotes were often removed from the building.
Wirecard collapsed last summer, after it disclosed a €1.9bn black hole in its accounts earlier in the year.
The failure of the fintech firm is considered one of the Europe’s biggest accounting scandals.
One employee who worked at the Munich office for almost two years until 2018 told the Financial Times that amounts of between €200,000 and €700,000 were removed often, sometimes several times per week.
If the employee is correct, it could mean more than €100m was removed, however bank records seized by police only document cash withdrawals of around €6m.
Munich police have arrested several former senior Wirecard managers, including ex-CEO Markus Braun, who denies any wrongdoing.