Pecunia non olet is now about 2000 years old, not much has changed in that time.

I'm currently living in Ecuador and skipping out of the country with millions and heading to Europe is the preferred route for many politicians here. They get safe haven there with their families and are not extradited, even when the government tries to get them back for trial. So, this is actually perfectly cool with the EU coming from another western country, not just Russia/China. Money seems to make those EU principles of the rule of law very negotiable. Guess they have the inverse problem as well when someone runs off with their money.

Also there are rich people in poor countries that embezzle money and then move to a western country. They are able to use the laws and protections of that western country to block any extradition.

Because it is more than likely that Wirecard was not just running a front for illegal gambling and questionably legal (in terms of youth protection compliance) porn sites, but also a front for Russian GRU/FSB to distribute cash to agents and sources.

There is no other reasonable explanation as for why he is under the care of GRU.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Russia and Russia backed entities (as well as Chinese) are spending a lot of money to try to gain footholds in Western Europe and America through all kinds of schemes. Whether this was one of those is up for grabs, it could easily be. But it is a fact that these things are happening.

How they might get themselves into such a situation?

Just one sample: The company might have been in financial trouble, not able to fulfill its obligations in the short term, and so a decision was made to pull in some Russian 'cheap' capital for a short term loan.

There is a very large amount of illicit Russian money flowing around and it pops up in the most respectable places.

So it isn't necessarily just greed, it could be that the investor that you are taking on board in turn is a front for that sort of capital (always ask for the source of the capital from your investors, if they are coy about it then better go somewhere else), or that the founders are too naive to realize that they are making deals with people they should stay away from (see comment above for my own personal story).

(1) I did add a disclaimer regarding the source

(2) There are undoubtedly links between Marsalek and Russia

(3) It is plausible (no extradition, reasonably close by so family can still visit)

(4) There is circumstantial evidence

(5) Many places where he could go to would actually be far more dangerous to him than Belarus

So obviously, this is not hard proof but it is a lot better than nothing at all, if you can dispute any of the bits they list as facts rather than speculation (which they were surprisingly candid about) then that would change matters.

For now, it is the best that I could find, the list of countries where he could go, live in relative luxury and safety while on the lam for German justice isn't all that long and Belarus features near the top of that list.