WIRECARD's former head of accounting has admitted to forging documents when under pressure to provide evidence of transactions during a special audit by KPMG.

Wirecard's former chief financial officer, Stephan von Erffa, told prosecutors he falsified the documents after coming under pressure from the auditor to provide evidence of a €50m (£43m) payment, according to sources speaking to the

Financial Times.

The accounting chief admitted to creating a fake, back-dated email and corresponding financial documents when asked to hand over documents to KPMG that did not exist.

The forgery came after the German firm hired KPMG to audit its accounts in an effort to clear itself of allegations of balance sheet manipulation, after suspicions were first raised by the Financial Times.

The Wirecard financial chief said the act of forgery had been a single, isolated incident that was not intended to falsely represent the company's accounts. Von Erffa denies involvement in the firm's wider fraud.

Former German tech titan Wirecard collapsed into insolvency in June 2020 after announcing €1.9bn in missing cash. Von Erffa is set to face trial this year over the case along with two other Wirecard executives, Oliver Bellenhaus and Markus Braun.

Bellenhaus turned himself into authorities in June 2020.

Braun denies wrongdoing.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper