Dhe star chef Alfons Schuhbeck has extended his confession in the trial of tax evasion and also admitted computer manipulation in his restaurant “Südtiroler Stuben”.
Missing invoice numbers in the cash register system are “also due to computer manipulations, for which I am ultimately responsible,” said the restaurateur on Friday before the Munich I Regional Court. “There is no third party responsible for this.”
Income smuggled past the tax office
Schuhbeck had already made an extensive confession on Wednesday, but mainly related to his other restaurant “Orlando”. “I did a few things wrong,” said the 73-year-old on Wednesday. He had “deceived his friends and acquaintances and also my defense lawyers until the end” because he did not want to admit that he had failed entrepreneurially. That became particularly clear to him “when I entered this room for the first time.” At the time, he only assumed general responsibility for the “Südtiroler Stuben” and stated that he could not remember how the manipulations had actually taken place.
The public prosecutor accuses the restaurateur of using a computer program to smuggle revenue past the tax office. For this he is said to have commissioned an IT specialist to develop an obfuscation program for one of his restaurants. The man is also on trial, accused of aiding and abetting tax evasion. He has already made a full confession.
In total, there are more than 2.3 million euros in taxes that Schuhbeck is said to have evaded in 25 cases between 2009 and 2016 in the “Orlando” and in the “Südtiroler Stuben”. According to a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in 2012, there is usually a risk of imprisonment without probation from a sum of one million euros in tax evasion.
The trial is scheduled to last until December 22nd.
