Summer fairy tale process
“No tax evasion”: Ex-DFB trio claims innocence
The legal proceedings in the “Summer Fairy Tale Trial” have begun in Frankfurt/Main. photo
© Boris Roessler/dpa
At the start of the summer fairy tale trial, the accused reject the accusation of tax evasion. Two defendants are calling for the proceedings to be dropped.
The behavior of the former top officials of the German Football Association, who were accused of tax evasion in a particularly serious case, was certainly symbolic, because the trio want to take different paths in the main proceedings that have opened before the Frankfurt regional court.
While Niersbach and Schmidt want the process to be stopped, Zwanziger rejects this. “I have the impression that the prosecution representatives know very well that they are on very thin ice and that there can and will be an acquittal for all three defendants,” said the former DFB boss. He would therefore be “much more comfortable if the evidence announced by the court takes place.”
Niersbach’s lawyer Sven Diener had previously officially requested that the summer fairy tale trial be stopped on the first day of the hearing. Because of the ban on double prosecution and double punishment, there is a procedural obstacle, he explained the application, which is supported by Schmidt and his lawyers.
Defendants strictly deny allegations
They refer to the fact that all three defendants are guilty of paying 6.7 million euros to FIFA in 2005, which was used to repay a personal loan from Franz Beckenbauer to the French entrepreneur Robert Louis-Dreyfus in 2002. had to answer before the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in 2020. The proceedings in Bellinzona were discontinued due to the statute of limitations.
The public prosecutor’s office, however, assumes that the crime charged in Frankfurt “is not identical to the crime that was pending in court in Switzerland,” said senior public prosecutor Dominik Mies in his role as spokesman for the authority. Should the process nevertheless be stopped, the proceedings against Zwanziger will be separated and continued.
The defendants agree on their assessment of the allegations, which they once again strictly rejected. “There was no tax evasion at all in 2006. And if there was no tax evasion, there is also no tax evasion,” said Zwanziger and announced: “I would like to see the tax investigators explain what they have done over the years from November 2015 to May 2018.”
Schmidt’s lawyer Tilman Reichling made similar statements during the hearing. “Tax evasion in 2006 is ruled out,” he said in his opening statement. At the same time, Reichling accused the public prosecutor’s office of having “more than quadrupled” the tax damage allegedly incurred since 2015 in order to inflate the proceedings.
The public prosecutor sees sufficient suspicion
At the beginning of the investigation more than eight years ago, the public prosecutor’s office estimated the tax damage at 2.7 million euros. In the indictment read out at the opening of the hearing, the public prosecutor’s office accused the three defendants of tax evasion of 13.7 million euros for 2006 because the 6.7 million euros were improperly claimed as business expenses in the tax return for the year in question.
“We have affirmed sufficient suspicion. The Higher Regional Court has clearly confirmed us in this regard twice. To speak of arbitrary behavior by the law enforcement authorities is remarkable,” said Mies, confirming the public prosecutor’s position.
According to Zwanziger’s lawyer Hans-Jörg Metz, the authorities’ investigation gave the impression that the public prosecutor’s office was more concerned with “prosecuting celebrities than with finding out the truth. Apart from speculation, we find nothing in the investigation files. The prerequisites are missing and perpetrators of tax evasion,” he said.
Niersbach’s lawyer Renate Verjans criticized the fact that this procedure had even taken place on the orders of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court. The Higher Regional Court overturned the district court’s discontinuance decision twice in 2019 and 2023 and restarted the proceedings. “It is astonishing that we are sitting here more than eight years after the investigation began,” said Verjans and expressed the expectation that Niersbach would “get justice” with an acquittal.
The German Football Association, which had its non-profit status retroactively revoked for 2006 as a result of the affair, is also hoping for this. The association therefore had to pay around 22.5 million euros in back taxes in 2017. A lawsuit filed by the association with the Kassel Finance Court was suspended until the end of the summer fairy tale trial – and only has a good chance of success if the defendants are acquitted.