Son of Famous Politician Sent to Prison
July 15, 2004The oldest son of former Bavarian premier and conservative figurehead Franz Josef Strauss was sentenced to over three years in jail on Thursday for tax evasion. Max Strauss was found guilty of receiving €2.6 million ($3.2 million) in commissions from aircraft sales which he never declared to tax authorities. "The trial gave you an opportunity to bring order in your life," Judge Maximilian Hofmeister told Strauss, adding that, had he confessed, he could have been let off with probation. At the same time, Hofmeister said that the former top defense official arrested in Paris in connection with the political slush funds scandal of the Christian Democratic Party, Holger Pfahls, should consider the mitigating effect a confession could have on his own sentence. German prosecutors want Pfahls extradited back to Germany so that he can be tried for tax evasion. The investigations of both Pfahls and Strauss are part of the web of legal proceedings surrounding the CDU scandal.