For 18 months, the Financial Times has reported on whistleblower allegations of accounting fraud at what was once Europe’s most valuable financial technology group: Wirecard. Since last Thursday, when the German payments company revealed auditors could not trace €1.9bn supposedly held in escrow accounts at two Asian banks, its shares have plunged 80 per cent. On Monday, Wirecard acknowledged that this cash probably does “ not exist”. It is now clear that this is one of Europe’s biggest corporate frauds of recent years.
在過去18個月里,英國《金融時報》報道過有吹哨人揭發歐洲曾經最具價值的金融科技集團Wirecard存在會計欺詐。上周四,這家德國支付服務商披露,審計機構無法追查到本應在兩家亞洲銀行托管賬戶中的19億歐元,自那以來,該公司股價已暴跌80%。周一,Wirecard承認這筆資金可能“不存在”。如今看來,這顯然是近年來歐洲最大的企業欺詐案之一。