Singaporean and Briton get jail time for $1.6b Wirecard fraud

Singaporean R Shanmugaratnam and Briton James Henry O'Sullivan were sentenced to jail on Tuesday (Jan 6) for falsifying accounts in relation to collapsed German payments company Wirecard, according to police on Thursday.

Shanmugaratnam, 59, received 10 years' jail time, while O'Sullivan, 51, got 6.5 years.

Both were convicted on Sept 22, 2025, following a joint trial between July 31, 2023 and Feb 21, 2025 over 26 days, police stated.

Shanmugaratnam is a director of a local accounting and auditing company, Citadelle Corporate Services Pte Ltd, who was alleged to have issued 13 balance confirmation letters to Wirecard entities between March 2016 and April 2018.

The letters were found to have fraudulently represented to Wirecard, its subsidiaries, and its auditors that Citadelle held over €1.1 billion ($1.6 billion) in Wirecard funds in escrow accounts.

Shanmugaratnam was subsequently convicted of 13 counts of falsification of accounts.

O'Sullivan, whose companies used Citadelle's corporate secretarial services, was accused of instigating Shanmugaratnam to create five of the 13 fraudulent letters. He was convicted of five counts of abetting falsification.

The Court determined that Shanmugaratnam had intended to deceive Wirecard, its subsidiaries and its auditors via the confirmation letters, and to fraudulently maintain a business relationship with O’Sullivan and Wirecard’s executives, Jan Marsalek and Oliver Bellenhaus.

Marsalek, 45, was the chief operating officer of Wirecard AG from 2010 to 2020. He is also an Austrian fugitive and suspected spy operative for Russia who's currently wanted by Interpol, reported The Straits Times and CNA.

Both Shanmugaratnam and O'Sullivan have indicated that they intend to appeal against the convictions and sentences.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com