Philippines Investigates 57 Potential Participants In Wirecard Scandal

Fifty-seven local and international “persons of interest” who possibly participated in the Wirecard AG scandal are subjects of a probe by government officials in the Philippines, Reuters reported.

Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Mel Georgie Racela said in a news conference that the individuals were identified in a report provided to the National Bureau of Investigation. The official also pointed out that not all of them would be subject to criminal charges.

Officials at two Philippine lenders who are thought to have faked paperwork were on the list, noted Racela, who indicated that the financial institutions are not currently part of the probe.

Immigration officials who purportedly falsified arrival and departure data on the ex-COO of Wirecard are also among the persons of interest, the newswire reported.

The country’s connection with the demise of Wirecard stems from the fact that the payment company at first contended that it had stored $2.1 billion in two financial institutions there, a claim that was rejected by the lenders as well as the central bank.

In September, legislators in Germany rolled out a parliamentary probe into Wirecard’s demise, per Reuters. In July, the AMLC said investigators were focusing their attention on two rogue bank staffers in investigating the scandal.

In August, Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd. unveiled its intentions to sell its British operations. The firm’s card technology, assets and customers will be sold to Railsbank, a U.K.-based FinTech, under the terms of the deal. Wirecard said in a statement at the time that the FinTech “has proven production experience of running over 50 card programs in the United Kingdom, European Union, United States and Singapore and has all the supporting operational and license infrastructure.”

The company had also consented to sell its business in Brazil to mobile payment-based online shopping firm PagSeguro Digital.