Former Wirecard COO Marsalek left Philippines this week, bound for China -Guevarra

MANILA - A former board member of collapsed German payments company Wirecard was briefly in the Philippines this week but left the country on Wednesday headed for China, Manila's justice minister said on Friday.

Jan Marsalek, the former chief operating officer under suspicion in Germany over the firm's accounting saga, arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday and left on Wednesday via Cebu City bound for China, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a text message to Reuters.

"But CCTV footage does not show him arriving here, and there is no record of any flight to China scheduled in the morning of June 24 from Cebu," Guevarra told GMA News Online.

He said the Bureau of Immigration is investigating its management information system personnel.

Asked if there was any indication of a collusion, the official said the results of the investigation "may lead to various scenarios, including the possibility of employing diversionary tactics to mislead Marsalek's pursuers."

"We cannot draw any definite conclusion as yet," he said.

Wirecard collapsed on Thursday owing creditors almost $4 billion after disclosing a gaping hole in its books that its auditor EY said was the result of a sophisticated global fraud. -Reuters with Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas