The trial against Boris Becker started in London on Monday. Some details of the indictment became public. And Becker himself surprised some of those present.
Boris Becker joined the queue outside Southwark Crown Court with a serious face. The former tennis star’s gaze kept going to the ground as he waited for the security check outside the courthouse in central London, accompanied by his partner. Then the trial against the 54-year-old began, for whom an enormous amount is at stake.
A total of 24 charges are to be knocked down over the next three weeks under the direction of Judge Deborah Taylor – then it could be determined whether Becker can continue his previous lifestyle blamelessly.
He faces up to seven years in prison in the worst case scenario because of the accusation of lack of cooperation in his insolvency proceedings. The native of Leimen denies the accusations.
A translator and heavy accusations
Becker caused some surprise by enlisting the help of a translator. The tennis legend has lived in London for many years and also works as an expert for the BBC. Judge Taylor justified the decision by saying that he might need help with “technical vocabulary such as legal terms”.
The focus of the first day of the trial was prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley. The lawyer delivered her charge, saying among other things: “The prosecution’s case is that Mr Becker acted dishonestly in relation to a number of assets which he variously concealed from, or failed to make available to, those responsible for identifying the assets.”
What Chalkley means by this is that Becker allegedly “hid” real estate and trophies from investigators, for example. Among other things, this would involve his Wimbledon trophies from 1985 and 1989 as well as his Olympic gold medal from 1992.
It would not be the first punishment
In 2002, Becker was sentenced by a German court to a two-year suspended prison sentence and a fine for tax evasion amounting to around 1.7 million euros. The Spanish and Swiss judiciary also targeted him at times. Now he is on trial in London.
“The presumption of innocence must also apply to me,” Becker said before the trial began: “Of course I will accept any verdict. But I hope that the judge and the twelve jurors will reach a just verdict. “
