Wirecard (WRCDF) - a major German fraud - is unwinding as I write this. They have withdrawn several years of accounts and they wonder whether the business (their main profit generator) was conducted at all.
Over 2 billion euro is missing.
This fraud has been well telegraphed for a long time, with several short cases and some excellent articles by the Financial Times providing a rare glimpse into a major fraud real time.
The financial regulator did no investigation of the fraud. But they investigated short-sellers for market manipulation, threw some in jail and filed criminal charges against the journalists who wrote ultimately correct articles about the company.
As someone with "anglo" sensibilities I tend to think there is a real problem when bureaucrats throw people in prison and raise criminal charges for telling the truth. I thought that ended in Germany when the Wall came down (but I am clearly wrong).
No apology though.
To quote the Financial Times:
...Olaf Scholz, Germany’s finance minister, rebuffed calls for tighter regulation as a consequence from the Wirecard case. “The supervisory institutions worked very hard and did their job, which we see today,” said Mr Scholz in a video interview at the summit.
Mr Scholz is delusional. No rational outside observer thinks this was a good job.
But may I ask some questions:
a) if ignoring the evidence and prosecuting whistle-blowers is a good job what is a bad job?
and
b) are German standards really this low - or is it only Mr Scholz's standards?
Just asking
Comments
Log in or sign up to join the conversation.