Pav Gill, the Singaporean lawyer who blew the whistle on the massive fraud perpetrated by Germany’s Wirecard financial services provider, will not appear in court in Munich on Wednesday after cancelling at short notice, the court announced on Tuesday.
The court did not name Gill in its announcement.
The lawyer worked for the Wirecard legal department in Singapore, where he came across suspect trading. He reported his suspicions to Wirecard headquarters in Munich.
When management failed to take action, he passed his information to journalists, prosecutors and auditors.
London’s Financial Times newspaper published an initial article based on Gill’s information in February 2019. A series of revelations followed.
Former Wirecard head Markus Braun has been in custody for more than four years as the complex case proceeds.
The Financial Times had reported suspected irregularities at the payment provider for years. But Gill was the first person to provide specific information to the newspaper on fraudulent business activities that boosted Wirecard’s balance sheet.
Security concerns?
One reason cited for Gill’s absence by court sources was that the witness had fears for his safety, despite the courtroom being an underground high-security construction within prison perimeters that cannot be freely accessed by outsiders.
His decision not to attend means that Braun will not come face to face in court with the person who set the ball rolling for the company’s downfall.
Since the witness lives outside of Germany, the court cannot compel him to appear. A spokesman for the Munich court said the last-minute cancellation was incomprehensible.
