The head of the German audit watchdog was suspended with immediate effect after admitting to trading shares in Wirecard while conducting a probe into the company’s auditor, as the fraudulent collapse of the payment group continues to wreak havoc throughout Germany’s corporate life.
The decision to move Apas chief Ralf Bose aside is designed to “safeguard” the oversight body’s “integrity” while he is investigated, said the Federal office of economics and export control, an agency reporting to the economy ministry in a statement on Monday.
In a separate move, it emerged on Monday that Germany’s financial regulator BaFin, which is tasked with investigating Mr Bose’s share trading, had sacked an employee for violating disclosure rules on the buying and selling of Wirecard-related securities. Three other BaFin employees are probed over similar allegations.
Apas and BaFin, two of the most important regulators of corporate Germany, have come under fire for…