One Court Boris Becker Would Rather Avoid

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

15 July 2002

Monaco doesn't seem to bring much luck to its resident tennis stars. After Bjorn Borg's high profile business problems, and Peter Graf's three years in jail for falsifying his famous daughter's travel records to make it look as if she spent much of her time in Monaco, now it's Boris Becker's turn to fall foul of the German tax authorities.

Prosecutors in Munich have deposited a 300-page file on Becker with the Munich court, which is deciding whether to bring charges against Becker for tax evasion. The affair has already rumbled on years, but Becker has been unsuccessful in having it stopped, despite many efforts. Last week Manfred Wick, head of the city's public prosecutor's office, said: 'There is sufficient reason to suspect tax offences'.

Becker offered the equivalent of $7m in 2000 to settle the case, but the authorities refused, and continued with their investigation. A stroke of luck for the tax inspectors came when Hans Gerd, a Becker fan and official archivist of the German Tennis Federation, asked the star to bless a massive photo-album which tracked Becker's public appearances all over the world for many years - when Becker didn't answer Gerd's letter, the disenchanted fan sent the album to the prosecutor's office.

Becker has heroic status in Germany, so he may escape the fate of British folk-hero Lester Piggott, who was jailed for tax evasion in the 1980s. Mr Wick says that in the circumstances a fine would be more appropriate than a custodial sentence.

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