Peter Graf out on US$3.3m bail

Peter Graf out on US$3.3m bail

MANNHEIM, Germany (AFP): Peter Graf, father of tennis star Steffi Graf, left prison here Friday afternoon on US$3.3 million bail after being held in custody for 15 months on tax charges.

The co-accused, Graf's former financial advisor Joachim Eckhardt, was also released on bail of $200,000.

The prosecutor's office has appealed the decision and the ruling will be heard by the appeal court in Karlsruhe.

However, the judge indicated that any appeal on the current ruling "would have not have a strong chance of succeeding."

As the decision was handed down, Steffi's father, evidently moved, raised his hands to his face to hide his emotion.

Outside the court he responded to journalists' questions on whether he was pleased to be free, saying: "it's written on my face."

The 58-year did not return to his cell to collect any belongings, preferring to return directly to the Graf family property at Bruehl in the country's south-west.

In September the Karlsruhe court rejected another ruling to release Graf on a two-million-dollar bail saying there was a danger he could flee.

Graf has been in jail since August 1995 on charges he failed to pay nearly 20 million marks ($13 million) in taxes on 42 million marks of his daughter's earnings between 1989 and 1993.

The accused will have to report to authorities twice-weekly and is banned from leaving the country under bail conditions.

Graf's tennis star daughter recently voiced her indignation to the American media at her father's detention saying that it was unfair considering that "murderers are released after 18 months in jail."

Steffi Graf's earnings since she began her career in 1982 are estimated at $100 million.