A disgraced top German manger has been found guilty of hiding money in a Liechtenstein bank to avoid taxes. Former Deutsche Post head Klaus Zumwinkel will face a 1 million euro fine, but will avoid jail time. Zumwinkel, 65, confessed last week to using a Liechtenstein bank to evade 966,000 euros ($1.2 million) in taxes. On Monday, Jan. 26, a court found him guilty and handed down a two year suspended sentence and a fine of just under 1 million euros. Zumwinkel's arrest for tax evasion in 2008 sent shockwaves through Germany's close-knit business world. Authorities made an example of Zumwinkel, leading him out of his posh villa near Cologne as television cameras rolled.
Zumwinkel, 65, confessed last week to using a Liechtenstein bank to evade 966,000 euros ($1.2 million) in taxes. On Monday, Jan. 26, a court found him guilty and handed down a two year suspended sentence and a fine of just under 1 million euros.
Zumwinkel's arrest for tax evasion in 2008 sent shockwaves through Germany's close-knit business world. Authorities made an example of Zumwinkel, leading him out of his posh villa near Cologne as television cameras rolled.
But still, this is an invitation to tax fraud. Here [in German] someone makes the case, that game theoretically with so low fines and low chance of being actually found, this is very clearly such an invitation. Here [as well German] you can see even more dramatically, that tax fraud is not such a risk, when you have the right connections. A tax fraud officer was declared psychic ill and therefore unable to work, because he tried to get some big fish. Well, Germany is a Banana republic, too. Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den MenschenVolker Pispers
