Interpol red notice issued against ex-Wirecard Asia vice president who fled Singapore
Edo Kurniawan is suspected to have conspired with others to embezzle funds amounting to up to S$100,000, but left Singapore before investigations started.
File photo of a Wirecard building in Germany. (Photo: AP)
SINGAPORE: An Interpol red notice was issued on Aug 22 against a former vice president at Wirecard Asia Holding, after he left Singapore before investigations into alleged embezzlement offences began.
Edo Kurniawan was vice president of controlling and finance at the firm - a Singapore subsidiary of German payment and financial services provider Wirecard AG - when he allegedly conspired with three former colleagues and Henry Yeo Chiew Hai to misappropriate funds from Wirecard Asia among other offences.
The three former employees are James Aga Wardhana, Chai Ai Lim and See Lee Wee. All three and Yeo, a director of Singapore firm Jacobson Fareast Marketing Services, were charged in court on Aug 17.
A warrant of arrest was issued against Edo then, and on Wednesday (Sep 7) the Singapore Police Force added in a press release that an Interpol red notice was also issued against him on Aug 22.
Interpol red notices are issued for fugitives wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence. It is a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person - pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action.
Red notices are published by Interpol at the request of member countries, of which Singapore is one.
Related:
Both the Interpol red notice and arrest warrant were issued against Edo for allegedly engaging in conspiracies with the four men to commit criminal breach of trust in siphoning between S$41,200 to S$100,000 from Wirecard Asia between May and December 2018.
Edo is also suspected of abetting Yeo to falsify invoices totalling S$184,870 from Jacobson Fareast to Wirecard Asia, and acquiring benefits from criminal conduct from the alleged conspiracies.
He also allegedly abetted Wardhana and See to transfer S$159,250 of benefits from criminal conduct to people within Singapore.
So far, seven men in Singapore have been charged in connection to the Wirecard case, which was sparked by the company's collapse in June 2020 after its auditor could not verify €1.9 billion (S$2.7 billion) supposedly held abroad in escrow by third-party partners, and subsequently refused to sign off on 2019 accounts.
Several Wirecard executives, including former chief executive Markus Braun, have been arrested on fraud charges.
Anyone with information on Edo's whereabouts is requested to call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000 (or +65 6255 0000 for overseas callers) or submit information online. All information received will be kept strictly confidential, said the Singapore police.
