German Multimillionaire Gets Suspended Prison Term For Liechtenstein Tax Fraud

Bad Homburg, Germany (AHN) - A German real estate multimillionaire was given a suspended two-year sentence on Thursday for tax evasion.

Elmar Schulte was declared by judges in Bochum guilty for depositing millions of euro is the principality of Liechtenstein in an attempt to defraud Germany of $11.8 million (7.5 million euro) in taxes from 2001 to 2006.

He is the first German tycoon to be tried for tax evasion. The tax evasion cases was the fruit of a DVD sold in February by a former Liechtenstein Bank employee to Germany, which contained revealing information about rich Germans who had accounts in the principality's bank. Liechtenstein is often allegedly linked to being a tax haven for the world's wealthy.

Schulte's sentence was suspended because he confessed to the wrongdoing and pack the backtaxes he owed the Germany government, plus penalties.

Since Germany started running after the tax-evading tycoons, it had recovered $174 million (110 million euro) in tax arrears