A German court said on Monday that Bayern Munich President ULI HOENEß "will stand trial for tax evasion in March," but his club "wants him to stay on in his current role," according to Karolos Grohmann of REUTERS.
The charges of the prosecutor's office "were admitted for trial which is set to start on March 10." Hoeneß, the face of Bayern Munich for many years, "stunned Germany in April by saying he had voluntarily alerted tax authorities in January to a Swiss bank account he held."
He said that "it was a personal account, created for his stock market trading." He "admitted to gambling bigger and bigger amounts and taking a major hit as the dotcom bubble burst" (REUTERS, 11/4). BLOOMBERG's Karin Matussek reported FC Bayern Munich AG’s supervisory board said that Hoeneß "will stay on as chairman, given his 30 years of 'outstanding service' to the club." The board said that two lawyers "backed the board’s decision." The board said in a statement, "The law does not prescribe disqualification from office for supervisory board members due to a criminal conviction. There are ample examples of cases in which board and supervisory board members, even of publicly listed companies, have retained their positions despite being accused of violating legal responsibilities in other areas of their lives" (BLOOMBERG, 11/4). Hoeneß said, "It was expected. I'm very surprised that our self-indictment from Jan. 17 was declared void by the authorities. I will together with the lawyers work very hard over the next four months that our arguments will convince the court" (BILD, 11/4).
