The President of Bayern Munich football club has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after he voluntarily disclosed that he evaded tax on millions of dollars of income held in secret Swiss bank accounts. His disclosure was however ruled incomplete by the Presiding Judge, Rupert Heindl on Thursday.
“Hoeness's disclosure was incomplete and thus did not meet rules required for an amnesty under German laws designed to encourage tax evaders to come clean”.
"In the name of the people, Mr Ulrich Hoeness is sentenced for seven serious counts of tax evasion to a prison term of three years and six months," the judge said.
Hoeness was initially charged with evading €3.2m, but it was revealed during the trial that the amount was almost 10 times higher (27.2 million euros in total). The scandal left the country’s leader, Angela Merkel, disappointed in Hoeness. The German football great had earlier apologised to the court and pleaded for leniency.
"I deeply regret my wrongdoing," he said on Monday. "I'm doing everything I can to put this unhappy chapter behind me."
The defence team has revealed that it will appeal the decision.
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