German lawmakers fault finance minister, auditor on Wirecard

BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers examining the collapse of the payment processing company Wirecard have accused the country’s finance minister and auditors Ernst & Young of numerous oversight failings. Wirecard filed for protection from creditors through insolvency proceedings last year after admitting that $2.3 billion supposedly held in trust accounts in the Philippines probably didn’t exist. The company’s former CEO is being investigated on suspicion of criminal fraud. The nine-month parliamentary probe immediately became fodder for Germany’s upcoming election, with both opposition parties and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Union bloc criticizing Finance Minister Olaf Scholz in the affair. Scholz is the center-left Social Democrats’ candidate to replace Merkel in the September vote.