"I did a few things wrong," admits Alfons Schuhbeck

Turning point in the trial against Alfons Schuhbeck: the star chef accused of tax evasion made an extensive confession before the Munich I Regional Court. "I did some things wrong," he said on Wednesday. "I fooled myself, my friends and acquaintances and also my defense attorneys until the very end because I didn't want to admit that I had failed entrepreneurially." That became particularly clear to him "when I entered this room for the first time".

In his restaurant "Orlando" he "repeatedly used the opportunity to reduce sales" and thereby took money out of the cash register, said Schuhbeck. The public prosecutor accuses the 73-year-old of using a computer program to smuggle revenue past the tax office. In total, there are more than 2.3 million euros in taxes that Schuhbeck is said to have evaded between 2009 and 2016 in the "Orlando" and the "Südtiroler Stuben".

At the start of the trial, his defense attorneys said they saw "doubts and inconsistencies" in the allegations against their client: "It may turn out at the end of the proceedings that Mr. Schuhbeck is not the perpetrator but a victim himself, because not only the tax authorities, but first he was deceived."

This tool was available in one of his restaurants, but Schuhbeck has now confirmed it. The statements made by his former IT specialist, who weighed heavily on his boss at the start of the process last week, are “largely correct”. “Quick, quick, zack-zack and gone,” Schuhbeck described deleting transactions on the computer.

For the second restaurant, the "Südtiroler Stuben", where, according to the public prosecutor's office, he is also said to have taken money from the cash register, he took "responsibility" - without specifically admitting that he also made cash disappear there. He repeatedly referred to gaps in memory: "I can't remember the details." He didn't manipulate any cash registers there. He no longer knows whether he manipulated something on the computer. In addition, there were always technical problems and difficulties with the transmission.

However, 1,200 invoice numbers are said to have disappeared there alone, as the authorities accuse Schuhbeck. "That doesn't mean that the cable was kinked all the time," said presiding judge Andrea Wagner.

If the prosecutor's allegations are correct, Schuhbeck must have taken several million from the cash register. Schuhbeck said he couldn't explain where all the money went. He “above all plugged financial holes and supported my children in their education”. He wanted to enable them to study, which he was unable to complete himself.

"I didn't squander the money on a life of luxury (...)," says Schuhbeck. "I don't play either." He doesn't have "other vices" either. "I didn't bury any foreign accounts or anything else anywhere." He bought antiques, said Schuhbeck. But today they are not worth as much as hoped.

"If I could undo it, I would do it immediately," Schuhbeck said. "I stand before the ruins of my life's work."