Becker served up more tax trouble
Former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, who was handed a suspended jail term and a hefty fine for tax evasion last week, faces more trouble from the German tax authorities.
Becker's lawyer Joerg Weigell said on Monday his client had been ordered to pay three million euros ($2.92 million) more in back taxes. "We regard this as totally unjustified and we are negotiating about it," Weigell told Reuters.
Weigell said the payment order was linked to contracts between Becker and his former manager Ion Tiriac.
A report in Monday's German weekly Focus said the three-times Wimbledon champion faced a probe over alleged fictitious contracts between him and Tiriac from 1985 to 1991.
Tiriac's assistant said Becker's former manager had no comment to make on the issue. The Munich tax administration declined to confirm a new investigation had been opened, citing secrecy rules protecting tax information.
NO NEW TRIAL
The Munich prosecutors, who have been investigating Becker's taxes for the last 10 years, said the fallen German tennis hero should not fear a new court battle.
"There is no further ongoing (judicial) investigation regarding Mr Becker," state prosecutor Matthias Musiol said on Monday.
Becker was handed a two-year suspended jail term and a heavy fine by a Munich court on Thursday.
The 34-year-old stood accused of having claimed residence in the tax haven of Monaco while actually staying in Munich between 1991 and 1993.
He admitted in court that he had made a mistake by dodging tax but then survived a fright after state prosecutors pressed for him to be sent to jail for 3-1/2 years.
The court eventually handed him a suspended term after taking into account his confession and the fact that he had paid the $3 million he owed a week before his trial.
FILED LAWSUIT
Becker amassed $25 million in prize money in a career spanning 16 years but lost much of his fortune through his tax problems and a multi-million dollar divorce settlement.
He has recently filed a lawsuit against German internet provider T-Online.
Becker's adviser Robert Luebenoff confirmed on Monday a Focus report saying Becker was asking T-Online, which is controlled by telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom, for 5.8 million euros for having used his image without permission from 1999 to 2000.
A T-Online spokeswoman said there was an ongoing legal dispute with Becker but did not elaborate.
Becker, whose heroics on the tennis court made him one of Germany's biggest post-war celebrities, retired after playing one last Wimbledon in 1999.
The former world number one, who shot to fame with his first triumph at the All England Club as a teenager in 1985, has endured a string of misfortunes since leaving the professional tennis circuit.
The man once known as "Boom-Boom" for his trademark heavy artillery and never-say-die attitude on a tennis court had to go through the divorce, an admission he fathered a child with a Russian model and a string of failed business ventures.
