Wirecard: Insolvency administrator reveals scandalous loss of money!

Wirecard: Insolvency administrator reveals scandalous loss of money!

In the suffering Wirecard affair, insolvency administrator Michael Jaffé expresses considerable doubts about the innocence of the former CEO Markus Braun. Jaffé, who has been with securing Wirecard's remaining assets for five years, describes the company as a "operation with a global structure and enormous cash burn without any liquidity". This emerges from an OE24 report. In the summer of 2020, Jaffé had uncovered that Wirecard did not have profitable business, but had a weekly cash burn of 10 million euros, which was added to astonishing 1.1 billion euros in the total.

"money was not available", states Jaffé and emphasizes that the money requirement for the ten weeks after the bankruptcy application is estimated to be a three -digit million sum. Despite these alarming findings, Markus Braun insists that Wirecard was a profitable company with real business. Braun, who has been in custody for almost five years, accuses Jan Marsalek and his accomplices of having branched off billions from the group.

The challenges of bankruptcy

The situation at Wirecard is exemplary for the complexity of insolvency proceedings. Insolvency means that a debtor can no longer meet his payment obligations, which is regulated by the bankruptcy regulations. In the case of Wirecard, it is indisputable that a large scale was cheated, the question remains who the actual perpetrators were. Jaffé points out that around 1.8 billion euros have been missing since 2020. According to the indictment, Braun is considered a relevant member of the fraud gang while he himself speaks of a victim role.

In a broader perspective, the development of bankruptcies in Germany shows trends. In 2023 there were around 110,200 bankruptcies, which represents a decline of 31,000 compared to 2013. Nevertheless, the number of corporate bankruptcies rose to 17,814, especially in the service sector, where 59% of the bankruptcies were recorded. The situation is reminiscent of the fact that most of the bankruptcies are caused by creeping economic problems and inadequate liquidity.

economic implications and outlook

The failure of companies like Wirecard has far -reaching consequences. In 2024, an estimated 320,000 jobs will be lost by insolvent companies. This is almost as much as in the crisis year 2020. In addition, the financial damage caused by insolvent companies amount to around 56 billion euros, an increase of almost 80% compared to the previous year. Germany has recorded the third most company insolvencies in Western Europe after France and Great Britain and is faced with great economic challenges.

With the revealed financial misery of Wirecard and the associated allegations of fraud, Germany is found at a critical moment in which the measures to regulate and control companies such as Wirecard have to be reconsidered. The coming months will be decisive, not only for the remaining Wirecard, but also for the structure of German bankruptcy law as a whole.

The complications around Wirecard urge the need to use bankruptcy to treat both debtors and the creditor fairly. The bankruptcy regulations play a central role here and, as the history of Wirecard shows, is becoming increasingly relevant in the changing economic landscape of Germany.