Briton sentenced to jail in January over Wirecard-linked offences has bail revoked over flight risk

The images showed a Republic of Vanuatu passport and a United Kingdom passport.

The latter travel document had a different passport number from O’Sullivan’s UK passport that had been impounded by the Commercial Affairs Department since 2020.

The browser tabs and bookmarks on his seized mobile devices also showed that he had been doing research on accommodation in Vanuatu.

O’Sullivan had also made inquiries on matters involving extradition to Singapore.

DPP Oh told the court that these showed O’Sullivan had an intent to abscond.

The prosecutor said that the Briton was a flight risk, stressing that he has no roots, family or job in Singapore.

O’Sullivan is represented by a team led by lawyer Tito Shane Isaac, who told the court that he needed time to take instructions from his client on the next steps.

The lawyer said that he could not consent to the bail being revoked.

After hearing both sides, District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam revoked O’Sullivan’s bail, adding that there was evidence to believe that he is a flight risk.

The case will be mentioned again in court on March 18.

A district court had earlier found O’Sullivan and Singaporean R. Shanmugaratnam, 59, guilty of offences linked to Wirecard in September 2025 after a trial.

They were both handed jail sentences in January, but indicated that they planned to appeal against their convictions and sentences.

Shanmugaratnam 

(S$1.6 billion) purportedly held in escrow for Wirecard and its related firms. He was sentenced to 10 years’ jail.

O’Sullivan had abetted Shanmugaratnam to issue five of the letters in March 2017.

In earlier proceedings, the court heard that from 2016 to 2018, Shanmugaratnam, who was then a director of Citadelle Corporate Services, issued 13 balance confirmation letters.

The documents falsely confirmed to Wirecard AG, its related companies WCUKI and Cardsystems, as well as their auditors, that Citadelle held nearly €1.1 billion in escrow for the Wirecard entities across three financial years. 

Escrow is an arrangement where a neutral third party holds money or assets on behalf of two parties until agreed conditions are fulfilled. This service can support transactions such as mergers and acquisitions in capital markets.

Wirecard 

after disclosing that €1.9 billion in cash, supposed to be in bank accounts in the Philippines, did not exist.