By Andrew Warshaw
March 13 – Two days after his all-conquering club reached the last eight of the Champions League, humiliation was heaped on Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness when he was sensationally jailed for three years and six months for tax evasion.
Hoeness, who has done more than anyone to turn the current European champions into one of the world’s most powerful and successful clubs, had admitted defrauding German tax authorities of millions of euros by stashing money away in secret Swiss bank accounts. He now faces a jail sentence, the implications of which are sending shockwaves through the sport.
Hoeness, a World Cup winner with West Germany in 1974 and a legendary figure at Bayern where he had spent two generations as a player and administrator, bowed his head and stared at the floor when the verdict was delivered. For the moment he remains free after his defence team immediately said it would appeal.
Judge Rupert Heindl ruled Hoeness’s voluntary disclosure about undeclared income was incomplete and thus did not meet a vital requirement needed for amnesty under German tax laws designed to encourage tax evaders to come clean. “The voluntary disclosure is not valid with the documents that were presented alone,” said the judge.
Prosecutors originally charged Hoeness with evading €3.5 million in taxes. But on the first day of the trial Hoeness stunned the court by admitting he had actually evaded five times that amount – €18.5 million. That figure was raised even further to €27.2 million on the second day when a tax inspector testified that the amount was higher still.
Ultimately Hoeness, one of the most influential and recognisable figures in European football who reportedly counted German Chancellor Angela Merkel among his friends, was found guilty of “seven serious counts of tax evasion”. His legal team argued he should escape punishment because he gave himself up and filed an amended tax return. Prosecutors had called for a term of five years and six months.
Bayern fans outside the Munich court held up banners expressing support for the football boss whose offer of resignation at last year’s annual meeting was rejected by the club’s board.
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