Wirecard has admitted that 1.9 billion euros missing from its accounts likely did not exist AFP/Christof STACHEMANILA: Philippine immigration officers falsified records to show ex-Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek briefly visited the country after he was sacked from the collapsed German payments processor, the justice minister said on Saturday .
German and Philippine authorities want to question the former chief operating officer as part of their separate investigations into the Wirecard accounting scandal, but his whereabouts are unclear.Entries in the Bureau of Immigration database show Marsalek arrived in the Philippines on Jun 23 - the day after he was fired - and left for China on Jun 24.
"The investigation has now turned to the persons who made the false entries in the database, their motives, and their cohorts," Guevarra said.The immigration employees have been stood down and face punishment. Investigators were also looking into"possible criminal responsibility" for the fake entries, he said.
Guevarra told reporters last month that immigration records showing Marsalek's transit through the Philippine city of Cebu could be part of"diversionary tactics to mislead Marsalek's pursuers". Marsalek was responsible for the Asia business that became the focus of accounting irregularities - including a missing €1.9 billion supposedly banked in the Philippines - that ultimately brought Wirecard down.