The trial against star chef Alfons Schuhbeck for tax evasion in the millions continued on Thursday with the questioning of a sommelier from the “Südtiroler Stuben” restaurant. The witness reported to the District Court of Munich I about the processes involved in paying and signing invoices. When it came to paying, he went to the table with an interim bill. After the payment process, the invoice was then completed. Special guests and regular customers would have received a discount of up to 30 percent. The presiding judge called the procedure unusual, since the sums of the interim bill could still be canceled.
The public prosecutor accuses Schuhbeck of using a computer program to smuggle revenue past the tax office. In total, there are more than 2.3 million euros in taxes that Schuhbeck is said to have evaded between 2009 and 2016 in the “Orlando” and the “Südtiroler Stuben”. The co-accused is accused of aiding and abetting. Schuhbeck made a confession.
According to Schuhbeck’s defense attorneys, the discussion is about making amends for the damage, i.e. paying the tax debt, which can affect the sentencing. However, the lawyer could not confirm receipt of the money in the morning. It was initially unclear how the process would continue. After a break, the process should be continued at noon. Originally, pleadings and the verdict were planned for Thursday.
“I did something wrong”
Schuhbeck had previously made an extensive confession. “I did a few things wrong,” said the 73-year-old, beginning his confession. “I fooled myself, my friends and acquaintances and also my defense lawyers until the very end because I didn’t want to admit that my business had failed.” That became particularly clear to him when he “entered this room for the first time”.
At the start of the trial a week before his confession, Schuhbeck’s defense attorneys said that they saw “doubts and inconsistencies” in the allegations against their clienthttps://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/.”It may turn out at the end of the trial that that Mr. Schuhbeck is not the perpetrator, but a victim himself, because not only the tax authorities, but first and foremost he was cheated.”
A few days later, the turning point: In his restaurant “Orlando” he “repeatedly used the opportunity to reduce sales” and thereby took money out of the cash register, Schuhbeck admitted. The statements of his co-defendant former IT specialist, who had heavily burdened his boss at the beginning of the trial last week, are “on the whole correct”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/.”Quick, quick, zack, bang and away,” said Schuhbeck, describing the deletion of sales on the computer.
On the second day of the trial, Schuhbeck had said: “If I could undo it, I would do it immediately.” And he added: “I stand before the ruins of my life’s work.”