Philippine authorities have complained about the former Wirecard COO case

Philippine authorities have filed a lawsuit against Wirecard, including former president Jan Marsalek, following an investigation into the collapse of a German pay group.

The state attorney general’s office said Friday that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had filed charges against four people, including Mark Tolentino, a lawyer in Manila.

The Southeast Asian country has been the scene since Wirecard forced the company to claim $ 1.9bn in two local banks, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and BDO Unibank. Fraud that a long-term paid company was uncovered last year when Wirecard revealed its existence. Wirecard filed a loan repayment in June 2020.

The NBI also backed the cases in which Joey Dela Cruz Arellano, Judith Singayan Pe and others, who were not named, said the prosecutor’s office in the case. Philippine investigators have filed the lawsuit along with the BPI, which also led to the complaints.

The charges include fraudulent business documents and violations of all banking regulations, cybercrime prevention and cybercrime. If found guilty, their sentences include up to 12 years in prison and a fine of up to 2m Philippine pesos ($ 42,000), according to the attorney general’s office.

The allegations relate to bank statements claiming € 1.9bn in cash and were disclosed to Wirecard EY readers.

Marsalek, a German prosecutor believed to be one of the culprits in the multi-billion dollar scam, has been on the run since the fall of Wirecard and is wanted by Interpol.

Attorney General Benedicto Malcontento told the Financial Times that the allegations allege that Marsalek met Tolentino in Manila in March 2020 along with EY and KPMG, which Wirecard executives ordered in 2019 to oversee their investigation.

Wirecard told EY that Tolentino was his trustee in the Philippines, overseeing the banking system instead. Tolentino denies being a Wirecard trustee and has previously accused the German company of being “stolen”.

The KPMG review, which has not been published but has been published by FT, describes a meeting at Tolentino’s office in March 2020 with representatives of KPMG, EY and Wirecard where the lawyer claims his company opened bank accounts at BPI and BDO Unibank instead of the pay group. . Banks have previously stated they have no relationship with Wirecard.

Arellano is accused of providing false documents proving that Wirecard had money in the BPI, where he allegedly received money from Pe and other people who have not been named yet, Malcontento told FT.

Tolentino, BPI and a lawyer in Marsalek did not respond promptly to a request for comment.

Malcontento’s office said it would conduct an “initial investigation” into the allegations and review and evaluate upcoming and future cases linked to Wirecard.

The NBI complaint follows the trial of two immigration officers who last year participated data interference to show that Marsalek crossed the Philippines in June 2020.

Additional reports by Olaf Storbeck