A Justice Department official said Monday the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation is taking criminal action against former Wirecard Inc. executive Jan Marsalek, a Filipino lawyer and others for alleged bank fraud and cybercrime offences.
Wirecard collapsed in June last year, owing creditors nearly $4 billion. The insolvent German credit card and payment company is accused by Ernst & Young, its auditor, of sophisticated international fraud.
At one point, Ernst & Young claimed Wirecard kept more than $2 billion in two banks in the Philippines - accusations that the country's central bank and lenders have denied.
Assistant State Prosecutor Honey Rose Delgado said the bureau filed before the Department of Justice Monday a complaint of falsification of documents against Marsalek, attorney Mark Tolentino, Judith Singayan Pe, Joey Dela Cruz Arellano and some unidentified individuals, GMA News said.
The respondents are also accused of violating banking, e-commerce and cybercrime laws. The Bank of the Philippine Islands is also a complainant.
Marsalek is now on the International Police's red notice list, meaning there is a worldwide search for the Austrian financial executive. Marsalek was responsible for Wirecard's Asia operations - which became the concentration of accounting anomalies, according to Reuters.
The bureau earlier filed falsification complaints against two Filipino immigration officials. They are alleged to have made it appear Marsalek entered the Philippines in June last year, Business Mirror reported.
Tolentino, whose law firm was used by Wirecard to open foreign currency bank accounts with BPI and BDO Unibank, didn't respond to requests for comment.
Tolentino was allegedly tagged as the "trustee" of Wirecard's supposedly missing cash. The lawyer later claimed he was "framed" and that his identity was "stolen by foreigners" who came into his office asking how they could do business in the Philippines, GMA said.
Markus Braun, Wirecard's former chief executive officer, and several other top executives have been arrested on money laundering and fraud charges over the multibillion-dollar scam.
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