ERNST & YOUNG WILL HAVE TO FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR HIS BEHAVIOR WITH WIRECARD. It was time
Ernst & Young offices in London, photographed on 14 February 2018.
Following the revelations that Ernst & Young ignored the warnings of whistleblowers and other sources, the German parliament requests more detailed reports from the auditing controller and the famous "Big Four" (EY, Deloitte, KPMG, PwC) on the revision of Wirecard, the former fintech jeweler who was forced to file for agreed bankruptcy earlier this year after an independent audit revealed a $ 2 billion hole in its balance sheet.
The result is perhaps the biggest scandal involving a Big Four company since the collapse of Enron, which stopped Arthur Andersen's auditing business (AA's consulting business was spun off and renamed “Accenture”). Former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun has been arrested and is likely to face more than ten years in prison. The company's former COO, Jan Marsalek, is suspected of escaping with a large sum of stolen money. The executive has been exposed as a Russian intelligence asset that may be hiding in Russia despite Interpol's red warning issued in its name.
In addition, on Thursday, the German audit supervisor reportedly revealed to prosecutors that EY may have acted criminally during his work for Wirecard. The allegations "greatly intensify the legal and reputational risks for the audit firm." It's just the latest sign that EY may not just wash Wirecard's hands like thousands of employees expected.
Apas, the German auditor, recently sent a report to prosecutors, becoming the first international regulator to suggest that EY may have broken the law during its 10-year Wirecard business relationship.
Readers are probably wondering right now: Why don't prosecutors take EY's transgressions seriously anymore? Munich prosecutors told the Financial Times that they were evaluating the evidence presented by Apas and had not yet come to a conclusion. Prosecutors have not initiated a criminal investigation into EY's current or former staff.
The report anticipates what is expected to be a controversial hearing Thursday afternoon, as EY's partners are set to clash with German MPs over what they can reveal about their work for Wirecard without violating strict confidentiality rules. Last year Apas initiated an investigation into the work of EY which controls Wirecard. EY Germany made the following comment to the FT: " was not aware of such an Apas document", adding that "based on our current state of knowledge, our colleagues conducted the audits professionally and in good faith" and that "there were absolutely no indications of material misconduct by EY auditors in the Wirecard case ." In reality EY only has the hope of not being overwhelmed and canceled by the scandal, and the German prosecutors seem willing, this time, to go to the bottom.
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The ERNST & YOUNG article WILL HAVE TO FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR HIS BEHAVIOR WITH WIRECARD. Era ora comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/ernst-young-dovra-affrontare-accuse-penali-per-il-proprio-comportamento-con-wirecard-era-ora/ on Fri, 27 Nov 2020 08:00:50 +0000.