Alfons Schuhbeck: Judgment in criminal proceedings is imminent – ​​does the Munich star chef have to go to prison?

Created: 10/25/2022, 3:05 p.m

By: Andreas Thieme

The chef and entrepreneur Alfons Schuhbeck is on trial in Munich.

© Sven Hoppe/dpa

It is the fateful day for the Munich star chef: On Thursday it will be decided whether Alfons Schuhbeck (73) has to go to prison for tax evasion in the millions.

The district court wants to speak the verdict in the spectacular process.

Munich – A judgment will now be made about two months earlier than originally scheduled.

Because: After Alfons Schuhbeck made an extensive confession, the court no longer considered it necessary to take extensive evidence.

"I did a few things wrong," said Schuhbeck.

And: "I fooled myself, my friends and acquaintances and also my defense lawyers until the end because I didn't want to admit that I had failed entrepreneurially."

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 Orlando and the Südtiroler Stuben am Platzl.

Munich: Alfons Schuhbeck is said to have evaded taxes of 2.3 million euros

Schuhbeck admitted to having "repeatedly used the opportunity to reduce sales" and withdrawing funds from the till.

The statements made by his co-defendant former IT specialist, who had heavily incriminated his boss, are “on the whole correct”.

"Quick, quick, zack, zack and away," Schuhbeck described deleting transactions on the computer.

Missing invoice numbers in the cash register system in the South Tyrolean parlors are also "due to computer manipulations, for which I am ultimately responsible," said the restaurateur, who has since had to file for bankruptcy for his restaurants and companies.

"There is no third party responsible for this."

Tax process in Munich: Star chef Schuhbeck could even face several years in prison

Now it's about his freedom.

Schuhbeck says: “I am aware that I am threatened with imprisonment.

This idea scares me. ”Because after the confession, the question is no longer whether Schuhbeck will be sentenced, but how high his sentence will be.

Because according to a judgment of the Federal Court of Justice in 2012, a sum of one million euros in tax evasion threatens imprisonment without probation.

Regardless of the verdict, the process already has professional consequences for Schuhbeck.

The Bayerischer Rundfunk has initially removed its cooking programs from the television program because of the course of the negotiations.

No further BR productions are currently planned with him.