A 53-year-old father and two of his sons are before the Berlin district court because they are said to have evaded taxes amounting to millions as managing directors of trading companies.
The accused are said to have not submitted sales tax returns for months. The German tax authorities lost a total of around 7.5 million euros. Whether the 28- to 53-year-olds would comment on the allegations remained open at the beginning of the trial on Monday.
According to the indictment, the two sons were each registered as managing directors. In both Berlin trading companies, the father acted as a de facto co-managing director with comprehensive powers of attorney.
Among other things, transactions were carried out with metals and raw materials. In the years 2017 and 2018, taxes were evaded for two companies in a total of 17 cases.
A tax investigator said as the first witness that transactions with precious metals had been carried out, among other things. According to his impression, “everyone in the family was obedient to the father, when he said it was right, nobody asked,” said the investigator.
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The younger son said in another case that he owed his father a lot. That’s why he registered as managing director of a family company.
