Financial Times: Germany’s welcome inquiry on Wirecard

Financial Times:  Germany’s welcome inquiry on Wirecard

"The unravelling of Wirecard revealed a hole of more than €1.9bn in the payments group’s balance sheet. The willingness of the German establishment to overlook mounting evidence of fraud in the run-up to the company’s collapse extended right up to Berlin’s political and bureaucratic elite, raising questions about the political promotion of businesses deemed national champions. So it is both significant and welcome that the Bundestag will hold a full public inquiry into the collapse of the tech superstar turned national embarrassment. (...)

Much of the political pressure has come from Fabio De Masi, a member of the anti-establishment hard left who sought to investigate the scandal early on. The Die Linke lawmaker has described the government’s treatment of Wirecard as that of “a delicate homegrown plant that needed to be protected”. Understanding what made him and other outsiders think differently from an unquestioning establishment is vital if the damage done by the Wirecard scandal is to be repaired."