This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/13/uli-hoeness-sentenced-three-and-a-half-years-prison-tax-evasion-germany

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Uli Hoeness sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for tax evasion Uli Hoeness sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for tax evasion
(about 1 hour later)
Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail following his trial for tax evasion. Uli Hoeness, the former Germany international and president of Bayern Munich, was sentenced to three-an-a-half years in prison on Thursday for seven cases of tax evasion amounting to €27.2m (£22.7m). Hoeness's legal team has a week to appeal against the sentence.
Hoeness, who turned Bayern Munich into one of the world's most successful clubs and won the World Cup with Germany in 1974, admitted he evaded €27.2m (£22.7m) in taxes and prosecutors were pushing for a five-year sentence. The 62-year-old asked for leniency having voluntarily disclosed his actions to authorities. The 62-year-old had admitted to tax evasion in January last year. For years, he had made large profits in stock market speculations via a secret Swiss bank account.
The Hoeness case has shocked the nation and prompted thousands of German tax dodgers to turn themselves in. By choosing to go public, Hoeness had opted for what German law calls "voluntary disclosure": evaders can avoid trial by correctly detailing the taxes they have skipped and paying them back with 6% interest.
Tax evasion is a serious crime in Germany. Peter Graf, the late father of tennis champion Steffi Graf, was sentenced in 1997 to three years and nine months in jail for evading 12.3 million marks (€6.3m). He was released after 25 months. But during this week's trial, it not only emerged that the sums Hoeness had evaded were almost ten times higher than assumed – previous reports had spoken of €3.2m (£2.6m) – but also that he had failed to disclose his accounts within the rules.
An effective voluntary disclosure would have had to be done with the same detail as a tax return, the chief prosecutor had said. Hoeness had provided end-of-year statements for the relevant period, but failed to provide sufficient details on individual taxable transactions.
Federal prosecutor Achim von Engel had described the case as an "unusually grave case of tax evasion". The defence had demanded a suspended sentence, emphasising Hoeness's social engagement at the club.
Even before Thursday's verdict, the most high-profile trial against tax evasion in German history has already had a noticeable effect: more than 26,000 German tax evaders opted for voluntary disclosure since the Hoeness revelations hit the headlines in 2013. In Bavaria alone, the figure has quadrupled since 2012.
Reactions varied from schadenfreude to outrage at the harshness of the sentence. Hoeness's supporters protested audibly outside the Munich court even before the verdict was read out. On Twitter, Daniel Mack, a candidate for the Green Party, described the sentence as "the longest sending off in history".
Bayern Munich say they will not comment on the sentence until after any appeal, though a statement from the supervisory board – which contains high-profile executives from Adidas, German Telekom, Volkswagen and Audi – is expected later on Thursday.