By Andrew Warshaw
March 14 – Twenty-four hours after being sensationally jailed for tax evasion, Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness relinquished his post today and announced he would not be appealing against the three-year, six month term that rocked German football.
“After discussions with my family I have decided to accept the ruling of the Munich court on my tax affairs,” Hoeness wrote in a statement published on the club’s website. “This befits my understanding of decency, dignity and personal responsibility. Tax evasion was the biggest mistake of my life.”
“Bayern Munich is my life’s work and will also remain so,” he said, adding that he wanted to spare his club any further damage.
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 hiding money away in secret Swiss bank accounts.
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, Hoeness initially remained at liberty after Thursday’s verdict pending an appeal.
But he will not now be persuing that avenue, instead accepting the humiliation of being sent to jail after a career as one of European football’s most influential movers and shakers.
” I have instructed my lawyers not to appeal,” said Hoeness, 62. “In addition, I place with immediate effect the duties of president of Bayern Munich in the hands of the supervisory board of the club. I want to avoid causing harm for my club.
“Bayern Munich’s my life’s work and it will always be there. I’m going to stay connected with this great club and its people in any other way, as long as I live, however. To my personal friends and supporters of Bayern Munich, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support.”
Hoeness’ fall from grace is virtually unprecedented given the influence he wielded in German and European football – and, previously, his fame as one of the game’s most iconic players.
On Thursday 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.
Prosecutors originally charged Hoeness with dodging €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, 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, conversely, 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 but which became inevitable once his high-profile trial found him guilty.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734840502labto1734840502ofdlr1734840502owedi1734840502sni@w1734840502ahsra1734840502w.wer1734840502dna1734840502