Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Wirecard executive fled by private jet to Belarus as firm collapsed

Wirecard executive fled by private jet to Belarus as firm collapsed

Jan Marsalek, Wirecard’s ex-COO who is on Interpol’s most-wanted list, fled in June shortly before Wirecard filed for insolvency.

A former senior executive at Wirecard AG escaped from Austria to Belarus on a private aircraft last year with the help of a secret-service agent and a far-right politician, according to an arrest warrant seen by Bloomberg.

Jan Marsalek, the German payments company’s ex-chief operating officer who is on Interpol’s most-wanted list, fled in June shortly before Wirecard filed for insolvency.

Executives admitted that €1.9 billion (US$2.3 billion) in funds never existed, setting off one of Germany’s biggest accounting scandals.

The company’s implosion is the subject of a parliamentary investigation in Berlin, in which officials ranging from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief economic adviser to Deutsche Bank AG chief executive Christian Sewing have been called to testify.

Austrian police on Friday detained a senior official from the BVT domestic intelligence service – currently on a long-term leave of absence – for two days before releasing him, according to Nina Bussek, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors’ office in Vienna.

A former member of parliament for the far-right Freedom Party was also taken into custody in connection with the escape and remains there due to a separate matter, said Christina Salzborn, a Vienna court spokeswoman. The two men cannot be named for legal reasons.

Both have long-standing personal and business relationships with Marsalek, emails and photos reviewed by Bloomberg News show. The BVT official’s name was on the door of a room in a Munich villa visited by Bloomberg that was used by Marsalek to conduct business related to Wirecard and personal matters.



Marsalek, 40, was the right-hand man of Wirecard CEO Markus Braun, who is in jail in Germany. Marsalek’s current whereabouts are unknown – media speculation ranges from a compound outside Moscow to a secret hideaway in Turkey and a tropical island.

An Austrian citizen, he is seen as a key player in a fraud scandal that has burned many investors, exposed holes in financial oversight and raised the prospect of bias by authorities.

Austrian prosecutors suspect that the two men organised Marsalek’s escape with the help of two pilots, according to the arrest warrant.

A third person, also from the BVT, has been detained in connection with the Wirecard case and is being investigated for abuse of office, according to the prosecutors’ office in Vienna. The person isn’t suspected of aiding Marsalek’s flight.

The warrant, a redacted version of which has been published online, confirms an investigation by Bellingcat that had placed Marsalek in Belarus, as well as reporting by Austrian newspaper Die Presse.

The BVT – which stands for Federal Office for Protecting the Constitution and Fighting Terrorism – became the centre of a power struggle inside Austria’s security apparatus during the years in which the Freedom Party governed in coalition with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

In early 2018, when the party was in charge of the Interior Ministry, an unprecedented police raid took place at the BVT. It was carried out following accusations of malpractice and corruption by a whistle-blower close to the Freedom Party, according to the findings of a parliamentary committee. Most of the accusations were later found by the courts to be without substance.

One of the two men detained in connection with Wirecard is suspected of being the whistle-blower behind the accusations that led to the raid, according to a person familiar with that case as well as multiple media reports. The man denied the allegation in testimony to the parliamentary committee in 2018.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×