Wirecard denies allegations of misconduct at Singapore office

Following media reports of alleged wrongdoing at Wirecard’s Singapore office, the German fintech firm has responded to say that neither it nor its law firm has found conclusive evidence of criminal misconduct.

The Financial Times reported that a senior executive in Wirecard’s Asia-Pacific operations, named as Edo Kurniawan, has been implicated in a series of potentially fraudulent transactions.

A follow-up report alleged that lawn firm Rajah & Tann had found evidence of “serious offenses of forgery and/or of falsification of accounts” and other possible violations in Singapore, Malysia, Hong, Kong, India, and Germany.

Wirecard had initially dismissed the two FT reports from last week as “inaccurate, misleading and defamatory”.

It later issued a more detailed response, saying that a member of its Singapore team had in raised concerns about the alleged actions of a finance team member there.

The company then started an investigation, which found no evidence to support the allegations.

“Furthermore, there were indications that the allegations could be related to personal animosity between the employees involved,” Wirecard said.

Rajah & Tann, in a statement on Monday, confirmed that it had sent a letter to Wirecard last week, which stated that its inquiry was ongoing.

“To date we have made no conclusive findings of criminal misconduct on the part of any officer or employee of the company,” said the letter.

The company’s compliance team found that the allegations were “unfounded, full stop” but it brought in Rajah & Tann to investigate, said CEO Markus Braun in a conference call with analysts, adding that this was standard procedure because the claims were material in scope.

Source: REUTERS