Former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has returned his Bavarian Order of Merit, the State of Bavaria confirmed at the weekend.
Hoeness was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of avoiding the payment of nearly 30 million euros by keeping a secret bank account in Switzerland.
The 62-year-old reported himself to tax authorities after learning of an investigation into secret accounts in Switzerland in early 2013, and stepped down as the Bayern president just prior to sentencing in March 2014. In early June, Hoeness began his prison sentence at Landsberg Prison.
At the weekend, the State of Bavaria confirmed a report in Bild that Hoeness has returned his Bavaria Order of Merit, he received in 2002.
"He has returned the Bavarian Order of Merit," a Bavaria state chancellery spokesperson confirmed in dpa.
Meanwhile, Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has confirmed that Hoeness is set to return to the club when being released from prison on day parole in January 2015.
"At the beginning of January he will be back for the first time, and work in the youth academy," Rummenigge said on ZDF TV on Saturday.
He added that for now Hoeness will not return to the professional department.
"We had to sign a contract with the Landsberg prison which restricts his working field exclusively to the youth academy."