Gardaí raid the office of German firm suspected of €1.9bn fraud

GARDAÍ raided the innercity Dublin office of a German company suspected of carrying out a €1.9bn fraud.

Detectives from the fraud squad seized several computers and documentation at the small office run by Wirecard in Dublin 1.

The force’s cyber crime unit is also assisting the “complex” investigation being led by German prosecutors.

Wirecard, a failed online payments group based in Munich, is suspected of manipulation of stocks which made it the biggest company on the German stock exchange and part of the prestigious Dax 30 stock market index.

However, the company filed for insolvency last month owing creditors over €3.5bn, having secured loans totalling over €200m on the back of the €1.9m hole in its books.

Two of the company’s senior executives have been detained as part of the inquiry in recent weeks, one on suspicion of fraud in his Dubai apartment.

Evidence

The searches of the company’s Irish branch at the Foley Street office marks a widening in the probe which Munich prosecutors have said includes fraud and money laundering.

Sources said yesterday’s operation resulted in a large amount of evidence including computers being seized from the office, but no arrests were made.

“There was nobody present when gardaí entered the premises but a significant amount of material has been gathered which will assist the Garda’s colleagues in Germany. This is a German investigation and members of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) carried out the search at their request and the evidence recovered will be handed over to them,” the source added.

The operation came after gardaí received a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) request from officials in Germany through the Department of Justice in Ireland. The Irish raids come amid reports that German prosecutors are also considering money laundering charges in their investigation.