Philippines confirms death of ex-Wirecard exec Bauer

Former Wirecard executive Christopher Bauer, one of several people being investigated over a multi-billion dollar fraud at the German payments firm, died in The Philippines last month, the Justice Ministry confirmed on Thursday.

Bauer died of natural causes in a hospital in the capital Manila on July 27 and was cremated, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a statement citing official documents submitted to local investigators.

Bauer was part of an ongoing probe by the National Bureau of Investigation and the Anti-Money Laundering Council into the accounting scandal.

The Philippines became connected to the accounting saga at Wirecard AG when the German firm initially claimed that a missing $2.1 billion had been kept in two Philippine banks, which the banks said was not true.

The Philippines was also linked to Wirecard through its former chief operating officer Jan Marsalek, who was recorded as entering the country on June 23 then leaving for China a day later, around the time that news of the scandal broke.

Guevarra last month said those travel records had been falsified.