Wirecard: Insolvency administrator publishes new status report
Following the review meeting held on April 7, 2022, the insolvency administrator of Wirecard AG, Dr. Michael Jaffé, has now published a new status report on the insolvency proceedings.
One oft he main topics oft he new report was the liquidation of Wirecard AG’s former subsidiary, Wirecard Bank. According to Mr. Jaffé, the insolvency administrator was able to liquidate almost 227 million euros.l The financial supercisory authority BaFin had initially frozen Wirecard Bank’s money after the scandal became known, but has now released it again.
The insolvency administrator was also able to increase the assets from the liquidation of indirecetly valiable subsidiaries of Wirecard AG.
However the report also shows that despite the secured funds, the claims of creditors and shareholders are likely tob e disproportionately higher. For this reason, the insolvency admistrator is unable to provide any information on the timing and amount of an initial payment on account at this time. Injured investors must continue to be patient.
Investigations by the insolvency administrator against EY
As in the previous status report the insolvency administrator once again made it clear that the auditing firm EY – against which we are also representing numerous investors in court – continues to refuse any assistance in clarifying the facts oft he case.
To this end, the insolvency administrator has commissioned an external auditing firm to provide an expert opinion on the question of whether EY complied with ist duties in connection with the audits oft he financial statements or whether there were any breaches of duty.
According to Mr. Jaffé, the clarification work in this regard is well advanced, but still not complete.
Action for a declaration of invalidity of the 2017 and 2018 annual financial statements
Back in May 2022, we reported that the Munich I Regional Court had declared Wirecard’s financial statements for 2017 and 2018 null and void based on a lawsuit filed by the insolvnecy administrator.
The lawsuit was based on the alleged fictitious bookings with which managers oft he company are said to have inflated the balance sheets by fictitious amounts in the billions.
According tot he status report, this decision removes the basis for paying dividends to shareholders for the years in question. In his report, however, insolvency administrator Jaffé presented a clawback of dicidend payments as unlikely: „Any clawback of dividends will therefore have no economic significance fort he vast majority of small and private investors.“
In any case, he said, it was questionable whether it could take place at all in the case of very small amounts.
New test date
The new review date in the Wirecard AG insolvency proceedings has been set for November 29, 2022.