November 3 – Tax authorities in Germany have raided the headquarters of the German Football Federation (DFB) as part of an investigation into the country’s increasingly suspicious 2006 World Cup bid campaign.
Investigators have also searched the houses of DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach and his predecessor Theo Zwanziger in a dramatic escalation of the recent slush find allegations.
“We have opened investigations on suspicion of serious tax evasion linked to the awarding of the football championship in 2006 and the transfer of €6.7 million of the organising committee for the German Football Association (DFB) to FIFA,” a statement said.
Niersbach was vice president of the 2006 World Cup organising committee, while Zwanziger was treasurer. Niersbach has insisted the committee behind the 2006 World Cup bid, which Germany won by a single vote, acted “fairly” and “legally” but Zwanziger believes the fund existed.
“We are searching for incriminating material to support the suspicion of tax evasion,” investigators were quoted as saying by Bild in its online edition. More than 50 tax and prosecuting officials reportedly took part in the raids, seizing files, computers and hard discs.
The DFB have already launched their own internal probe but deny there was any wrongdoing by Nierbach who says the money was used to release a grant of €170 million for the staging of the tournament. Tuesday’s raids also targeted the home of DFB ex-general secretary Horst Schmidt.
Der Spiegel, which broke the story two weeks ago, claims the alleged slush fund to buy FIFA’s four Asian votes was set up using money loaned by late Adidas boss Robert Louis-Dreyfus. Organising committee chief Franz Beckenbauer has also denied knowledge of the alleged fund though he has accepted responsibility for the DFB’s “mistake” in making a payment of €6.7 million to FIFA towards securing a grant.
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