“Made the goat to the gardener”

The Federal Criminal Police Office has to BR-Information worked closely with the scandalous company Wirecard for many years. The federal government kept this silent – despite specific inquiries from the parliamentary opposition.

By Arne Meyer-Fünffinger and Josef Streule, BR At the end of March 2014, the mood between Wirecard and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) was dazzling. Wirecard Bank AG, which belongs to the group, has just solved a problem for the BKA – in connection with an account that the bank set up on behalf of the authority. “I would like to thank you expressly and cordially, in particular ‘that’ and ‘how quickly’ you were able to implement the whole thing,” wrote an employee of the BKA department “Serious and Organized Crime” by email to the general manager at the time the Wirecard Bank.

Wirecard: “We will become the BKA house bank”

The latter forwards the BKA thank you email to a board of directors on the same day. In addition, he writes, “We have 2 more BKA accounts”. The board of directors replied immediately and with great satisfaction: “Great – thank you very much! We will become the BKA house bank.” The e-mails are part of an extensive data set of internal Wirecard documents, the BR research could see. It shows: The BKA has maintained a close cooperation with the now insolvent payment service provider for years.

The special investigator Wieland is sharply critical of the BKA’s actions. Image: picture alliance / dpa / dpa-Zentral The former Green Bundestag member and interior expert Wolfgang Wieland took a closer look at the cooperation in his function as investigative officer for the Wirecard investigative committee. In the previously unpublished paper that BR research is available, he comes to the conclusion, among other things, that the BKA must put up with the question of whether it should not have “as an authority to combat money laundering and organized crime should have examined its partners more critically”. Instead, the BKA “made the buck to the gardener,” writes Wieland.

Wirecard issued credit cards for the BKA

The Federal Criminal Police Office chose Wirecard Bank to use credit cards to monitor suspects. In February 2014, for example, a BKA official approached the management of Wirecard Bank with the following request: “We would like to give a target person an originally sealed mywirecard VISA as a ‘gift’ so that they can use the card diligently. […] As soon as the card on surveillance is used, a corresponding data record with the information is sent directly to the law enforcement agency. “Since the target person is very suspicious, this card must be handed over to her in its original packaging.

Trusted exchange for years

At the BKA, the trust in the company is apparently so great that the authority inaugurates Wirecard in search concepts. In January 2014 she sent a fax to those responsible at the bank. The BKA investigators want to explain the “E-Cash” search concept to Wirecard: “For this purpose, we have already agreed business processes with various headends and companies (…). From our point of view, it would be a good idea to discuss this matter with you (gladly at your house) to explain in more detail. ”

Good and uncomplicated cooperation

At the same time, Wirecard always tried to make the BKA’s work as easy and inexpensive as possible. The company reimbursed the authority for any account management fees or credit card usage fees that were normally incurred. A board member of Wirecard Bank is pleased that Wirecard managers were able to gain insight into account movements from undercover investigations. He wants to be informed about account balances, “then at least I can see what’s going on on the account,” he wrote in an email in June 2014. Danyal Bayaz, Member of the Bundestag for the Greens and member of the Wirecard investigation committee, is critical of the cooperation: “At a scandalous company like Wirecard, where a board member himself had contacts to Russia, Libya or former security officials from Austria, who knows what with this data happened, and of course that’s a huge problem. ”

Cooperation with the BKA as “image polish”

According to the report by investigative officer Wieland, the group’s cooperation with the BKA “came as it was called” – “in the image polishing away from porn and gaming financiers to serious partners in politics and in particular actors from the security sector”. The cooperation is apparently practical for the BKA. Shortly before Christmas 2015, the authority thanked Wirecard: “We look forward to continued good cooperation in 2016 too.” And it runs for years. According to Wieland’s assessment, in the area of ​​operational management alone, BKA confidants “in the period from 2014-2020 made about 33% of all operational credit card sales with Wirecard”. The business conduct of Wirecard has long been the subject of criticism, and since 2015 there have been investigations against Wirecard officials on the grounds of “suspicion of money laundering” or “aiding in unauthorized gambling”. For Thomas Feltes, long-time professor of criminology at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, it is incomprehensible that the BKA has cooperated with Wirecard for so long: “At the latest from a certain point in time when the BKA knew or could have known that Wirecard did not have everything If things are done right, you should have pulled the rip cord. ”

The federal government is keeping silent about the BKA cooperation

In retrospect, this close relationship between the BKA and Wirecard appears to be uncomfortable for the federal government. This is at least the impression made by the internal communication between the Chancellery and several ministries shortly after the Wirecard collapse in June 2020. At that time, the Green parliamentary group submitted a comprehensive catalog of questions to the federal government. In it, she wants to know, among other things, whether Wirecard AG or one of its subsidiaries “advised, supported or otherwise worked with the authorities”. The Federal Chancellery then asks the individual departments to deliver. The Federal Ministry of the Interior, as the BKA supervisory authority, reports to the Chancellery about the cooperation between the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Wirecard Bank. But the experts in the Chancellery come to the conclusion that “the mere use of bank accounts or credit cards” does not involve any cooperation with Wirecard “in the sense of the question”. And so the answer sent on August 10, 2020 is: “The Federal Government is not aware of any collaborations.” The Green politician Bayaz calls for a comprehensive clarification of this process: “If we know today that German security authorities have used credit cards via Wirecard, for example, the question naturally arises, have any possible security interests of the Federal Republic of Germany been violated? This is a highly explosive process. And now all the cards have to be on the table. ” Neither the Federal Criminal Police Office nor the Federal Ministry of the Interior wanted to comment on the incident. The Chancellery referred to the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The Wirecard investigation committee of the Bundestag will deal with the report of the investigative commissioner Wieland on Thursday.