Banker arrested in Hoeness tax evasion case
A banker from the Swiss private bank Vontobel has been detained in Poland in connection with German football manager Uli Hoeness’s tax evasion activities. Vontobel has confirmed knowledge of the arrest.
The Swiss citizen was arrested by police in Warsaw on Wednesday and released on bail a day later. A Polish court said he was detained on suspicion of facilitating tax evasion.
Vontobel confirmed the arrest but declined to comment further according to the Swiss News Agency.
A regional German online platform reported that an arrest warrant had been issued for the Vontobel banker who had been responsible for Hoeness’s accounts since the 1990s.
Hoeness, the former Bayern Munich president, was convicted of tax evasion in March and sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
Hoeness trial
According to the Swiss finance news platform Inside Paradeplatz, no charges were brought against the Vontobel banker during Hoeness’s trial.
However, the banker’s name and the work done for Hoeness at the bank were made known – information which German authorities then used to bring a case against the individual.
The Hoeness trial became the most closely watched tax evasion case in German history.
Some 55,000 tax evaders have turned themselves in over the last four years and paid a total of about €3.5 billion (CHF4.2 billion) in back tax, according to the German taxpayers’ association.
The number of voluntary disclosures rose four-fold in 2013 from the previous year.
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