Irish police raided failed payments technology giant Wirecard’s Dublin offices at the end of last week.
The raid on Thursday July 9 was part of the Irish authorities’ endeavour to assist German prosecutors as they investigate the collapsed FinTech unicorn for fraud.
“Following receipt of a mutual legal assistance treaty from German authorities, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau began a search under warrant at a financial services provider with a business premises in Dublin city centre today, Thursday, July 9th, 2020,” the Garda press office said in a statement, the Irish Times reported.
The publication also noted that Jan Marselek, who served as Wirecard’s COO until he was fired at the end of June after auditor Ernst & Young (EY) discovered a €1.9bn ($2.1bn) hole in its finances and refused to sign off on its 2019 financial statement, was still listed as a director of Wirecard UK & Ireland, according to Companies Registration Office filings.
The raid of Wirecard’s Dublin office came on the back of police raiding its Munich headquarters and other offices in Germany and Austria at the beginning of July.
The collapse of Wirecard is the result of years of investigation from several journalists, most notably by reporters at the Financial Times. The scandal includes allegations against the firm’s top brass, saying that they inflated the company’s assets and revenue to mislead investors and customers.
The FinTech sector as a whole has not been left unscathed. In the aftermath, several FinTech firms relying on Wirecard’s services have had to temporarily shut down their services and to find replacements for their payment services.
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