Executive who vanished after his company's spectacular collapse three years ago to avoid arrest signals he's still alive
Former Wirecard Chief Operating Officer Jan Marsalek contacted a Munich court through his lawyer, the first sign of life after the Austrian-born executive disappeared three years ago during the dramatic collapse of the German payments company.
The Munich district court received a letter written by Marsalek’s lawyer, a spokesperson for the institution said Tuesday, declining to comment on details.
Marsalek has been one of the key figures behind Wirecard’s spectacular rise to one of Germany’s most valuable companies before its implosion in June 2020. At the time, Wirecard admitted that €1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) it had reported as assets probably never existed. Marsalek fled when the scandal broke and is believed to be hiding in Russia or Belarus. He’s on Interpol’s most wanted list and a Munich trial against him and other suspects continues.
WirtschaftsWoche first reported on the letter. Marsalek in it is rejecting claims that Wirecard’s third-party business didn’t exist and accused one of the key witnesses in the ongoing fraud trial of having lied several times, the German business weekly reports.
