Due to Theo Zwanziger’s unexcused absence, the sixth day of the Summer Fairy Tale trial was interrupted right at the beginning. The former president of the German Football Association, who was accused of tax evasion, was absent on Thursday without having submitted the required certificate of his incapacity to stand trial to the Frankfurt am Main regional court.
The presiding judge, Eva-Maria Distler, initially suspended the hearing for 30 minutes to give Zwanziger’s lawyer, Hans-Jörg Metz, the opportunity to provide an official certificate. “This is an unexcused absence. We negotiate according to the Code of Criminal Procedure; it is a legal requirement that the defendant be present. If there is no certificate, we have to present itsaid Distler.
In the trial, the former DFB officials Zwanziger, Wolfgang Niersbach and Horst R. Schmidt have to answer for allegations of tax evasion in a particularly serious case. They are said to have been sent to the world association FIFA in April 2005 Payment of 6.7 million euros was illegally declared as a business expense in the tax return for 2006 and thus reduced the tax for the World Cup year by around 13.7 million euros. All three defendants strictly deny the accusation.