The unusual and strange invitation to a ski trip, which Markus Braun is said to have issued in spring 2020 in the last few weeks of his time as Wirecard boss, is very reminiscent of the cult song “Schifoan” by Wolfgang Ambros. As is well known, the song goes like this: someone packs their skis on “Freitog auf’d Nocht” and drives to the Stubaital or to Zell am See to enjoy the weekend in the snow. Because, “Schifoan is the leiwaundste”, as the Austrian singer-songwriter Ambros has been singing for decades.
His compatriot Braun owns or owned a very large and beautifully situated house in the mountains in Kitzbühel, which cost eleven million euros. A ski trip for someone who supposedly had to be charmed would certainly have been possible. In any case, Sven-Olaf Leitz, board member of the auditing company KPMG, reported to the Munich I public prosecutor’s office about a corresponding offer. Leitz testified a little over a year ago, on March 2, 2021, as a witness to the public prosecutor. What he put on record weighs heavily on Braun. He, in turn, continues to reject all allegations made against him.
Snowboarding in Kitzbühel?
In the spring of 2020, KPMG hit the Wirecard financial group with a special audit. As things got tighter and tighter for Wirecard, a phone call between Braun and Leitz on April 22, 2020 is said to have been a bit bizarre, as the KPMG board member recalled. Braun is said to have asked Leitz if he was skiing. No, Leitz wants to have answered. He only snowboards. Braun is said to have said that when it was all over, he would invite Leitz to his cabin in Austria for a vacation, to go snowboarding. Leitz claims to have declined with thanks.
A spokesman for Braun explained this SZ-Request that the former Wirecard boss had never invited Leitz “to go snowboarding in his hut in Austria”. “This representation is simply inaccurate.”
The special audit commissioned by the Wirecard Supervisory Board from KPMG in autumn 2019 ultimately led to the alleged billion-euro fraud at Wirecard being exposed in mid-2020. What Leitz said to the public prosecutor’s office does not only burden Braun because of the alleged invitation to the mountains. Leitz’s statement is said to play an important role in the charges now being brought against Braun and two other suspects by the Munich I public prosecutor’s office for several alleged crimes.
Leitz describes it as if Braun did not promote the special stage, but made it more difficult. That’s pretty much the opposite of what Braun put on record during interrogations by the public prosecutor’s office at the end of 2020. At the time, Braun said about the KPMG exam that his board colleague Jan Marsalek was initially massively opposed to the special exam. He, Braun, saw it differently and expressed it in a conversation with Marsalek.
Marsalek then said the next day that he would do everything to support the exam. Then he, Braun, called Wirecard Supervisory Board Chairman Thomas Eichelmann and spoke out in favor of the examination. Braun also stated that he ultimately suggested the special stage.
The alleged rip-offs in the billions had taken place in Marsalek’s area of responsibility. The ex-board member cannot be questioned about this. He went into hiding in mid-2020 and is being searched for worldwide. Braun, on the other hand, stayed and was taken into custody in July 2020. He is still in prison today and denies all allegations against him.
During his interrogations at the end of 2020, Braun stated during his interrogations at the end of 2020 that he was not heavily involved and then did not bother with it any further. In between, fellow board member Marsalek once complained that he needed more people to work for KPMG. Then Marsalek should take more people, Braun replied according to his own statements. The way Braun presented the matter to the public prosecutor’s office, he only had to do with the special audit a few times and supported it.
Chronicle of a tough special test
KPMG board member Leitz gave a completely different record during his witness hearing. Leitz testified that Braun gave the impression in autumn 2019 that he fully supported the special stage. The exam itself got off to a rather slow start. Wirecard was hesitant to provide the necessary documents. Leitz claims to have put pressure on in a conversation with CEO Braun and chairman of the supervisory board Eichelmann on January 16, 2020. Braun is said to have then started to explain Wirecard’s business model; And not for the first time. According to his testimony, Leitz replied that KPMG didn’t need explanations, just hard facts.
Leitz claims to have handed Braun a list of required documents during the conversation on January 16, 2016. Braun is said to have replied that everything should actually be there, he will take care of it. According to the minutes of his witness hearing, Leitz found Braun’s behavior unusual. During investigations in other companies he, Leitz, had different experiences. A board member immediately had the whole team line up and gave clear instructions as to what had to be done by when. He, Leitz, missed that at Braun.
call on Sunday
According to Leitz, KPMG did not get any important contracts with Wirecard business partners at the time. Leitz reported to the public prosecutor’s office that he had had several conversations with Braun. He even called him, Leitz, on a Sunday. In a way, Braun tried to influence the test. He had repeatedly asked whether KPMG had to have certain contracts, but that wasn’t necessary. According to Leitz, it was about doing business with so-called third-party partners in Asia and the dealers supported by these third-party partners. Those were exactly the deals in which the alleged 1.9 billion euros in Wirecard assets in trust accounts in Asia turned out to be fiction.
Leitz testified as a witness: During another conversation in March 2020, Braun is said to have said that he could guarantee that this third-party business was one hundred percent genuine. He, Braun, has absolute supreme knowledge. Then it shouldn’t be a problem if all the documents came, Leitz claims to have replied.
Braun can’t remember the phrase “knowledge of power,” says his spokesman. However, all of Braun’s statements to KPMG “were based on the firm belief that the third-party business actually existed.” That was actually the case, according to Braun’s spokesman. The Munich I public prosecutor sees things differently.
Powerful knowledge or not: Wirecard published the special audit report from KPMG, which was devastating for the payment service provider, at the end of April 2020. Braun is said to have said in conversation with Wirecard supervisory boards that there should be no more audits. It would have been more correct to prevent the test report instead of publishing it, Braun is said to have explained at the time.
That’s what it says in a memo from a law firm that was advising Wirecard’s supervisory board at the time. Braun’s spokesman said the ex-CEO vehemently denied this representation. Braun was the one “who made the final decision to publish the audit report”.
KPMG board member Leitz reported another incident to the public prosecutor’s office. At some point, the Wirecard boss at the time, Braun, even said the following to Leitz: Leitz already knew that he had the handle of his, i.e. Braun’s, electric chair in his hand. As a witness, Leitz testified that he saw this as an attempt to exert pressure.
It is said to have finally escalated in the second week of June 2020, shortly before the alleged billion-dollar fraud was exposed and Wirecard collapsed. According to Braun, Leitz said during a phone call that KPMG’s trust in Wirecard had been used up. It doesn’t work that way. The KPMG decides what is checked and how. Braun is said to have replied that he would then have to consider taking legal action against KPMG.
Braun’s spokesman explains these statements by Leitz: “This representation is inaccurate.” Braun’s spokesman insists that the Wirecard boss at the time did not just campaign for the KPMG audit. He “rather initiated the special test himself”.