Massive Wirecard fraud trial in Germany delayed until March

The two trial dates scheduled for this week in the Wirecard trial, one of Germany's biggest fraud trials in decades, were delayed until March, the Munich Regional Court said on Tuesday, reported dpa.

The reason for the delay was because a member of the criminal division had fallen sick, added the court.

The trial, which began in December and is due to last around 100 days, is set to continue on March 1.

The former Wirecard chief executive Markus Braun is scheduled to take the stand again. He and two co-defendants face charges of forming a criminal gang, falsifying the group's balance sheets and cheating lenders out of €3.1 billion.

Wirecard was a payment service provider at the interface between credit card companies on the one hand and retailers and other sellers on the other.

At one point listed on the DAX share index and one of the high-fliers of German business, Wirecard collapsed in the summer of 2020 and filed for insolvency, making its shares worthless overnight.war.