The director of Citadelle, an accounting firm linked to Wirecard, has been slapped with another five charges for falsely stating balances held in the company's accounts.
R. Shanmugaratnam, 54, now faces a total of 11 charges for his involvement with the disgraced German payments giant. The Singaporean businessman was charged with five counts of «wilfully and with intent to defraud» falsifying letters to Wirecard, Wirecard UK & Ireland, and Cardsystems Middle East, according to charge sheets filed on Thursday.
The falsified letters from Citadelle span from December 31, 2016 to March 2017, and stated balances held in escrow accounts of between €30 million and €177.5 million, although the account did not hold such balances, the charge sheets stated. Citadelle reportedly handled money for Wirecard in a trustee capacity, although it was not licensed to do so in Singapore.
Shamnugaratnam was the first person to be indicted over the collapse of Wirecard. He already faces six charges of misrepresenting his company's balances, according to charge sheets filed last month. Each charge carries a maximum ten-year jail term.
Payment Services Halted
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Wednesday ordered Wirecard entities in Singapore to cease payment services and return all customer funds by 14 October, after Wirecard Singapore said it was unable to continue providing payment processing services to a «significant number» of merchants.
On Thursday, the firm pulled the plug ahead of schedule, disrupting services for merchants and companies across Singapore that use Wirecard’s payment solutions.
Wirecard is at the center of one of the region's biggest corporate accounting scandals in recent years, having admitted that €1.9 billion is missing from its financial accounts.
