BERLIN: Uli Hoeness, the former Bayern Munich president, has reportedly begun his three-and-a-half year jail sentence for yax evasion.

Hoeness, who was convicted by a Munich court in March of evading $40m in taxes, entered the Landsberg prison on Monday. The jail houses a mixture of offenders and was where Adolf Hitler dictated his political tract Mein Kampf to Rudolf Hess in the mid-1920s.

The former World Cup and European title-winner was convicted of evading taxes on income earned in a Swiss bank account. He hoped in vain his voluntary disclosure would lead to a suspended sentence and has spent the last three months waiting to begin his term.

Hoeness resigned as chairman of the supervisory board and president of Bayern Munich after his conviction in one of the most spectacular tax evasion cases in post-war Germany. Good behaviour could see him freed well before the end of his term.

The maximum sentence for tax evasion is 10 years and the prosecutors, citing Hoeness’s cooperation, had sought a 5-1/2 year sentence.

##########