ERNST & YOUNG READY TO TESTIFY ON WIRECARD PROBE

Auditors from professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY) can be questioned in a German parliamentary probe to investigate the Wirecard fraud scandal, following a court ruling, the company told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) on Thursday, February 11, 2021.

"Every EY employee called as a witness by the investigative committee can now testify before the investigative committee regarding the audit of Wirecard's financial statements," EY said in a statement. According to dpa sources, the auditors are expected to be invited to testify again on March 19.

So far, such invitations have been declined due to concerns that employees could violate confidentiality agreements. The committee responded by imposing an administrative fine on the individuals, which has since been withdrawn by Germany's Federal Court of Justice. A document outlining that decision has been seen by dpa.

EY audited and approved Wirecard's accounts from 2009 until 2018, before refusing to green-light the company results in June 2019 because 1.9 billion euros (2.3 billion dollars) could not be accounted for. Wirecard went from being a rising tech star on Germany's DAX index of top companies to filing for insolvency within around a week of the scandal breaking.

EY has come under pressure because prosecutors in Munich, where the disgraced payment services provider was based, believe Wirecard had been cooking the books as far back as 2015. "We have always stressed that we are working towards clarifying the facts of the Wirecard case, but to do so, we need a legally secure and effective release from our confidentiality obligation," EY said in its statement.

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