When it comes to suspected tax evasion, the authorities are usually very taciturn. Tax secrecy takes precedence, at least until a public hearing. This Tuesday, the Munich I public prosecutor’s office made a big exception and explained in detail on three closely written pages why charges have now been brought against the Munich advertising entrepreneur Andrea Tandler and what she is accused of. The daughter of the former CSU General Secretary Gerold Tandler is said to have evaded taxes totaling 23.5 million euros. In addition, she is said to have wrongly applied for emergency corona aid of 9,000 euros three years ago and thus committed subsidy fraud.
Regarding the unusual scope of the press release, the Munich I public prosecutor’s office stated that such a “disclosure” was exceptionally permissible if there was a “compelling public interest”. And in this case, which has caused a lot of attention, this is the case from the point of view of the investigating authority. At the beginning of the corona pandemic, Andrea Tandler arranged transactions with protective clothing, especially masks, against the virus via CSU channels and gradually collected 48.4 million euros in commissions. She did not get all the money alone, but together with her partner, the restaurateur Darius N. He is also accused, but not to the same extent as Andrea Tandler.
The two have been in custody for a good four months because of the risk of escaping. Both have repeatedly denied all allegations. And the presumption of innocence applies to both of them until they are convicted. The pre-trial detention does not change that. The two are not expected to be released before a possible trial. And if only part of the allegations are confirmed in court, then that would result in imprisonment. In the case of tax evasion in the millions, the judiciary should generally impose prison sentences. That is what the Federal Court of Justice says.
In the case of Tandler, a trial is foreseeable, but the outcome remains to be seen. The serious tax allegations involve three complexes: income tax, gift tax and trade tax. And it’s not always about all mask commissions, but sometimes about smaller amounts. The commissions ultimately came from tax revenue. Tandler had mediated Corona deals with several health ministries in Germany through its CSU channels of the Swiss trading company Emix in the amount of around 700 million euros. And from what the ministries paid to Emix, Tandler and Darius N. got the commissions.
In the case of income tax, the public prosecutor’s office claims that Andrea Tandler mistakenly let part of the income from the mask go through a company and thus unjustly benefited from a low company tax rate. Correctly, the advertising company would have had to pay tax on this income personally. However, this view is controversial among tax lawyers. Darius N. is said to have assisted in this complex.
In the case of the gift tax, the public prosecutor’s office claims that Darius N. did not contribute to the mask business at all. N. therefore received part of the mask commission as a gift from his partner Tandler. However, the two would not have reported this to the tax office and thus evaded gift tax. Andrea Tandler, Darius N. and their lawyers have always contradicted this accusation.
Little Penguin shared the 15 square meter office with 20 other companies
In the case of trade tax, the two accused are charged with letting the mask commissions run through their company Little Penguin. The company is based in the tax haven of Grünwald. The trade tax there is not even half as high as in Munich. In fact, the mask deals were threaded from Munich. Nothing at all happened from Grünwald. And it couldn’t have happened at all, since the little penguin rented a 15 square meter branch there together with 20 other companies. In this complex, the landlord is also accused of aiding and abetting tax evasion.
With Andrea Tandler, the allegation of subsidy fraud remains. According to the authorities, the entrepreneur had applied for emergency corona aid of 9,000 euros for her advertising agency Pfennigturm on April 1, 2020 and received it in May 2020. She had already concealed mask commissions of 26.5 million euros. Andrea Tandler repaid the 9,000 euros to the city of Munich a year later, in May 2021. According to the indictment, a subsidy fraud had already been committed. The indictment lies with the 6th Economic Criminal Court at the Munich I District Court. The court must now decide whether there will be a trial. At this stage of the proceedings, Andrea Tandler and her partner have the opportunity to refute the allegations to such an extent that there is no trial. However, given the current state of affairs, this is not to be expected.