Singapore has laid its first charges in the Wirecard AG scandal, accusing a director of Citadelle Corporate Services Pte of falsifying accounts.
R. Shanmugaratnam was charged with “wilfully and with intent to defraud” falsifying letters from Citadelle to Wirecard representing that the Singapore firm held tens of millions in euros in escrow accounts, according to charge sheets filed last month and seen by Bloomberg News.
The 54-year-old Singaporean is the first person to be indicted in the city-state over the spectacular collapse of Wirecard. The German digital-payments company filed for insolvency in June after saying that 1.9 billion euros ($3.09 billion) previously reported as cash didn’t exist.
The first of the four charges says that in March 2017, Shanmugaratnam falsely stated that there was a balance of 177.5 million euros held by Citadelle in an escrow account on Dec. 31, 2016. The other three charges say that in March 2016, he misrepresented that there was 66.4 million euros, 47 million euros and 30 million euros held by Citadelle in three escrow accounts on Dec. 31, 2015.
Shanmugaratnam’s lawyer, N. Sreenivasan, declined to comment.
The Wirecard scandal has continued to widen and now threatens to engulf top politicians, regulators and auditors in Germany. Former Wirecard Chief Executive Officer Markus Braun was re-arrested last month as German prosecutors said the company knew about massive losses as early as 2015.
Commerzbank AG abandoned its goal for a full-year profit after losses tied to Wirecard and the insolvency has left gaping holes in the income statements of ING Groep NV and Credit Agricole SA.
Shanmugaratnam is out on bail of $150,000. If convicted, he could face a jail term of as long as 10 years for each charge.
Last month, Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department and the Monetary Authority of Singapore said they launched a joint investigation into Citadelle and Senjo Group Pte and its subsidiaries. They said the investigation relates to suspected falsification of accounts and carrying on a trust business without a license.
See: Wirecard trustee in Singapore not licensed: MAS
