After being sentenced to imprisonment for tax evasion, star chef Alfons Schuhbeck sought distraction at the stove. "After the day of the trial, he went to the kitchen in the Tiroler Stuben. Cooking," said the 73-year-old on Friday. The trial and the verdict would have taken him right. "It is positive that he received a lot of encouragement from his environment via news."
The verdict is not yet legally binding
The Munich I district court had imposed a prison sentence of three years and two months on Thursday. According to the court, the prominent chef had smuggled around 2.3 million euros past the tax authorities. His co-defendant's one-year prison sentence for aiding and abetting was suspended.
It is not yet clear whether Schuhbeck actually has to go to prison, as the verdict is not yet final. According to his own statements, his defense lawyers have not yet made a final decision on possible legal remedies. If he were to be arrested, a prison sentence in Landsberg would basically be in place, said a spokesman for the Munich I Regional Court. However, deviations from the prison plan are possible.
Schuhbeck is already feeling some of the consequences. The dinner show in the Spiegelzelt does without the prominent restaurateur, who has already cooked for stars such as Queen Elizabeth II, Charlie Chaplin or the FC Bayern players. Instead of "Schuhbecks teatro", the name will only be "teatro" in the future, the company announced in Munich. But: "Alfons Schuhbeck's current menu will continue to be served to guests for the time being.
Cooking shows put on hold
Schuhbeck's career as a television chef is also on hold for the time being. After the Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), he will no longer appear on the ZDF show "Die Küchenschlacht" either. "For the time being, we will not see any use of Alfons Schuhbeck in our programs," said ZDF on Friday on request. For the recording of the new editions, it has already been taken into account that it will not be used. The restaurateur can no longer be found among the top chefs involved on the website either.
After a confession by the star chef in mid-October, BR took his cooking programs out of the program. New episodes of "Schuhbeck's kitchen cabaret", which were supposed to start on November 20, were also canceled. New productions are not planned. In the media library, however, you can still find the old episodes in which Schuhbeck conjures up pleasure alongside cabaret artist Monika Gruber and is completely in his element.
Gruber is also behind him in other ways: "I have already assured Alfons that my understanding of friendship includes both good and bad times. I will always be there for Alfons when he needs me," she recently told the "Bild" newspaper . But apparently not everyone thinks so. "Many of Alfons' friends and celebrities have eaten their way through him for free for years – and are now turning away. That makes me pissed off," noted the actress and cabaret artist.
